V 


DEC   9   1913 


Set,  tion 


13 


1  the  Vision,  and  malie  it  plain  upon  tables, 
le  mar  run  that  readeth  it."— Hah.  11,  2. 


rth  of  Jeeus  Chr 


-Ascension  of  Christ.      \ 


I 
o 


I   Ephesian, 

Smyrnaote, 
j^    Pergamite, 

S    Thyatiran, 
Sardian, 
Philadelphi: 


Vials,    y    fr""    Ir.v.IV-XX. 
(    Advent.  \ 


■Parousia — Saints  gathered  to  Christ  in  the  air. 
JUDGMKNT  OF  THE   WORLD— Seals,  Trumpe 
Epiphania — Antichrist  destroyed — Satan  bound. 

S   I    ) 

§    i\ Rev.  XX,  4-6. 

•'  i) 

-Satan  loosed — Gog  and  Magog.— Rev.  XX,  7-9. 
Satan  Judged— Resurrection  and  Judgment  of  the  Wiclted.— Rev.  XX,  10-15. 
-New  Heavens  and  Earth- New  Jerusalem.— Rev.  XXI.  XXII. 


THE  APOCALYPSE.  ' 


PEC  9  1913 


A  SERIES   OF   SPECIAL   LECTURES 


Revelation  OF  Jesus  Christ. 


REVISED  TEXT. 
By  J.  A.  SEISS,  D.D., 

AUTHOR    OF    "LAST   TIMES,"    "LECTURES    ON    THE    GOSPELS,"    "VOICES    FROM 
BABYLON,"    "A    MIRACLE    IN    STONE,"    ETC.,  ETC. 


Vol.  III. 

ELEyENTH  EDITION. 

(CONSISTING   OF    50OO  SETS.) 

Total  number  published  25,000  sets  (75,000  volumes) , 


CHARLES   C.  COOK, 

150  NASSAU  STREET, 

NEW  YORK.  N.  Y. 

I913. 


Copyrighted,  18f)5,  by 
JOSEPH  A.  SEISS, 


PEEFACE  TO  VOL.  IIL 


Portions  of  this  course  of  Lectures  have  been  so  long 
before  the  public,  and  the  character  of  the  work  has 
thereby  become  so  familiar  to  those  interested  in  it,  that 
there  can  hardly  be  need  for  further  prefatory  expla- 
nations in  sending  forth  this  concluding  volume,  particu- 
larly after  what  has  been  said  in  the  prefaces  to  the 
preceding  volumes,  and  in  the  Lectures  themselves.  It 
might  be  of  interest  to  tell  how  the  author  was  led  to  see 
and  embrace  the  view  of  the  Apocalypse  which  he  holds ; 
but  as  that  is  so  personal,  and  is  not  likely  to  contribute 
to  any  better  understanding  of  what  he  has  written, 
the  omission  may  readily  be  excused.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  so  heavy  an  undertaking,  and  the  travelling  of  a 
road  so  laborious  and  long,  has  not  been  without  very 
strong  convictions  very  impressively  and  unexpectedly 
begotten,  and  that  the  work  was  begun  and  has  been  pur- 
sued under  a  somewhat  peculiar  stress.  By  the  goodness 
of  that  God  from  whose  providence  that  urgency  came, 
and  in  despite  of  all  discouragements,  hindrances,  inter- 
ruptions, and  delays,  the  original  purpose  has  been  car- 
ried through  to  completion.  And  if  what  has  now  been 
produced  shall   serve  to  clear  and  edify  the  minds  of 

(  iii  ) 


IV  PREFACE. 

others  to  the  extent  that  these  studies  have  served  to  in- 
struct and  satisfy  the  writer  on  a  profoundly  important 
but  much-abused  and  much-misunderstood  subject,  ample 
will  be  the  reason  to  thank  God  that  the  labor  was  begun, 
and  that  strength  was  given  to  finish  it. 

Kequest  has  been  made  that  this  concluding  volume 
be  accompanied  with  a  chart,  or  table,  to  exhibit  to  the 
eye,  in  one  view,  the  several  parts  of  these  Apocalyptic 
presentations,  and  their  relations  to  each  other  in  the  order 
of  events  as  they  are  to  occur.  Something  of  such  a 
chart  has  therefore  been  placed  at  the  beginning  of  this 
volume.  Though  full  justice  can  hardly  be  done  to  the 
subject  in  that  way,  a  brief  statement  of  the  periods 
and  events  in  their  general  outlines,  as  they  are  con- 
templated in  this  wonderful  prophecy,  is  thus  furnished, 
and  may  help  the  reader  to  a  clearer  conception  of  the 
matter,  as  it  lies  in  the  apprehension  of  the  author,  and 
is  elaborated  in  these  Lectures. 

First  of  all  is  the  present  Church  Period,  stretching 
from  the  days  of  the  Apostle  to  the  beginning  of  the  great 
Judgment  time.  To  this  Period  belongs  the  first  vision, 
including  the  judgments  or  sentences  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
upon  the  Churches,  which  are  contained  in  the  Seven 
Epistles.  This  Period  ends  with  that  impending  incipient 
stage  of  Christ's  coming,  invisible  to  the  world  at  large, 
for  the  taking  of  thost  of  his  saints  who  are  waiting  and 
ready,  according  to  Luke  17  :  34-37.  When  that  com- 
ing will  take  place  no  man  knoweth,  and  for  it,  as  liable 
to  occur  at  any  moment,  and  as  the  very  next  prophetic 


PREFACE.  V 

event  in  the  order  of  time,  all  Christians  are  now  and 
continually  to  be  in  waiting  expectation  and  readiness. 
It  is  this  particular  event  that  marks  the  ending  of  the 
present  dispensation,  and  the  beginning  of  the  great  Judg- 
ment Period;  for  "judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of 
God."  (1  Pet.  4  :  17.)  The  occurrence  of  it  is  indi- 
cated in  the  Apocalypse  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
chapter,  where  the  Seer  beholds  a  door  opened  in  the 
heaven,  and  hears  the  trumpet  voice  calling  him  up 
thither. 

Then  comes  the  great  Judgment  Period,  extending  from 
this  stealthy  ereption  of  the  ready  and  waiting  saints  to 
the  forthcoming  of  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse,  with  all 
the  glorified  saint-armies,  for  the  destruction  of  the  powers 
confederated  against  the  Lamb  in  the  battle  of  the  great 
Day.  This  Period  embraces  all  the  events  connected 
with  the  breaking  of  the  seven  Seals,  the  sounding  of  the 
seven  Trumpets,  and  the  pouring  out  of  the  seven  Bowls 
of  wrath,  as  described  from  the  fourth  to  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  chapters.  The  length  of  time  covered  by  this 
Period  is  at  least  forty  years,  most  likely  seventy  years, 
if  not  more.  It  involves  a  material  change  or  modifica- 
tion in  the  dispensation.  The  Throne  set  in  the  heaven, 
with  which  the  Living  Ones  and  the  Elders  are  con- 
nected, as  described  in  chapters  four  and  five,  presents 
the  peculiar  arrangement  or  organization  of  the  celestial 
economy  by  which  the  administrations  during  this  Period 
are  to  be  conducted.  The  events  embraced  are  largely 
extraordinany,  miraculous,  varied,  and  complex.     They 


VI  PREFACE. 

are  partly  punitive,  and  partly  gracious,  for  in  wrath 
God  remembers  mercy.  The  termination  or  consumma- 
tion of  this  Period  is  the  visible  manifestation  of  Christ, 
•with  the  completed  body  of  his  glorified  saints,  for  the 
destruction  of  Antichrist  and  his  armies,  and  the  binding 
and  confinement  of  Satan. 

Then  comes  the  great  Millennial  Period^  the  thousand 
years  during  which  Satan  is  bound.  It  dates  from  the 
destruction  of  the  Antichrist  and  his  enemies.  It  in- 
volves a  still  further  change  or  modification  of  the  dis- 
pensation. Its  special  marks  are :  the  absence  of  Satan's 
deceits  and  machinations,  the  supplanting  of  all  human 
governments  by  the  direct  heavenly  rule  and  dominion 
of  Christ  and  his  glorified  saints,  and  that  new  order 
called  the  shepherdizing  of  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron, 
or  the  irresistible  enforcement  of  the  principles  of  right- 
eousness in  all  things,  by  which  the  whole  living  world 
shall  then  be  reduced  to  order  and  obedience  to  truth 
and  right.  It  is  the  following  up  of  the  victory  of  the 
battle  of  the  great  Day,  resulting  in  the  enthronement 
of  all  the  glorified  saints  with  their  Lord  in  the  invinci- 
ble rulership  of  the  world,  which  rule  never  terminates, 
but  finally  opens  out  into  an  eternal  reign  over  the  re- 
deemed and  renewed  earth.  That  which  more  particu- 
larly marks  the  termination  of  this  Period  is,  the  loosing 
of  Satan  for  a  brief  space,  his  leading  astray  of  certain 
remote  peoples  who  think  to  throw  off*  the  dominion 
of  Christ  and  his  glorified  saints,  the  quick  destruction 
of  these  rebels  by  fire  from  heaven,  the  consignment  of 


PREFACE.  Vli 

Satan  to  his  final  perdition,  the  recall  of  all  the  unsanc- 
tified  dead  before  the  great  white  throne  for  their  final 
sentence,  and  the  complete  and  everlasting  erasure  of  all 
sin,  all  death,  and  all  curse  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Then  comes  the  Eternal  State,  in  immediate  succession 
to  the  thousand  years.  It  begins  with  the  completion  of 
the  new  heavens  and  earth,  the  coming  of  the  heavenly- 
Jerusalem  into  its  place,  and  the  final  establishment  of 
Christ  and  his  glorified  ones  in  their  everlasting  dominion 
over  the  redeemed  world  and  its  populations.  Thence- 
forward everything  proceeds  in  undisturbed  and  ever- 
augmenting  blessedness,  world  without  end. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  Course  of  Time,  and  the  progress 
and  outcome  of  the  great  administrations  of  our  God,  as 
set  forth  in  his  Word,  mapped  out  in  the  foreshowings 
beheld  and  recorded  by  the  aged  Apostle  John, — the 
outline  sketch  of  God's  revealed  Plan  of  Grace,  Judg- 
ment, and  Redemption,  sought  to  be  traced  and  exhib- 
ited in  detail  in  these  Lectures. 

And  now,  earnestly  praying  the  Divine  Blessing  upon 
what  has  been  written,  and  upon  all  who  read  the  same, 
the  author  devoutly  commits  the  results  of  his  labors  to 
the  care  and  direction  of  that  good  and  wise  Providence 
which  has  enabled  him  to  complete  the  work,  and  to  the 
serious  attention  of  all  who  take  pleasure  in  learning 
about  what  must  shortly  come  to  pass. 

Philadelphia,  May,  1880. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  III. 


LECTUKE  THIKTY-FOUKTH. 

Chap.  14 : 1-13. 

The  144,000— Their  Maintenance  of  the  Confession  of  Christ 
over  against  the  Worship  of  the  Beast — The  same  as  the 
Sealed  Ones  of  Chapter  Seven — Their  Chief  Character- 
istics— Their  Peculiar  Reward — The  Four  Angel-Mes- 
sages,    .........    pp.  13-35 

LECTURE  THIRTY-FIFTH. 

Chap.  14 :  14-16. 

Vision  of  the  Harvest — Particulars  of  the  Description — The 
Angel-cry  for  the  Sharp  Sickle — The  Reaping — Vision 
of  the  Vintage — Angel  Out  of  the  Temple — Cry  from  the 
Altar — Gathering  of  the  Vine  of  the  Earth-— Treading 
of  the  Wine-press,         .        ...        .        .        •     PP«  36-58 

LECTURE  THIRTY-SIXTH. 

Chaps.  15:1-8;  16  : 1-lL 

Sign  of  the  Seven  Last  Plagues— Vision  of  the  Sea  of  Glass 
— The  Harp-singers  by  It— The  Seven  Priest-angels — 
The  Golden  Bowls— Plague  of  Sores- Plague  of  the 
Bloody  Sea— Plague  of  the  Bloody  Rivers  and  Water- 
springs — Plague  of  Sun-heat — Plague  Of  Darkness— Im- 
penitence of  Men, pp.  59-82 

(ix) 


X  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

Chap.  16 :  12-21. 

Sixth  Bowl  of  Wrath — Drying  up  of  the  Euphrates — Un- 
clean Spirits — The  Enthusiasm  They  Awaken — Singular 
Note  of  Warning — Harmageddon — Seventh  Bowl  of 
Wrath— Convulsions  in  the  Air — In  the  Earth — Great 
Babylon  Remembered— Earth  Altered— Unprecedented 
Hailstorm — Inveterate  Depravity  of  Men,  .     pp.  83-106 

LECTURE  THIRTY-EIGHTH. 
Chap.  17:1-17. 

Great  Babylon — Prominence  and  Difficulty  of  the  Subject 
— The  Two  Women — The  Primal  Post-diluvian  Apos- 
tasy— Nimrod  and  his  Inventions — The  World's  Intoxi- 
cation with  Them — The  Harlot's  Own  Drunkenness  with 
the  Blood  of  Saints — The  Waters  on  which  She  Sits — 
The  Beast  She  Rides, pp.  107-132 

LECTURE  THIRTY-NINTH. 

Chap.  17:  18. 

Great  Babylon,  Continued — Wilderness  in  which  She  Ap- 
pears— Her  Twofoldness — Shall  the  City  of  Babylon  be 
Restored?  —  Prophecies  on  the  Subject  —  Zechariah's 
Ephah — Features  and  Fall  as  Bearing  on  the  Question — 
Reasonableness  of  the  Idea,       ....     pp.  133-158 

LECTURE  FORTIETH. 

Chap.  18 :  1-8. 

Fall  of  Great  Babylon— A  Perplexity  Relieved— Length 
of  the  Judgment  Period— The  Angel  who  Announces 
the  Fall— Twofold  Fall— The  People  Called  Out— Forms 
of  the  Destruction — Administrants  of  It — Measure  of 
the  Calamity— Crimes  which  Procure  the  Ruin — Com- 
merce—Witchery, Presumption,  Self-glorification,  and 
Arrogance  of, pp.  169-188 


CONTENTS.  Xi 

LECTURE  FORTY-FIRST. 

Chaps.  18:9-24;  19:1-6. 

Sequences  of  the  Fall  of  Great  Babylon — Wails  of  Royalty — 
Wails  of  Merchants — Wails  of  Other  Classes— Heaven's 
Gladness — Saints,  Prophets,  and  Apostles  Avenged — 
Double  Alleluia — The  Amen — Further  Items  of  Joy — 
Taking  of  the  Kingdom — Blessedness  of  the  Rule  of 
God, .        .pp.  189-212 

LECTURE  FORTY-SECOND. 

Chap.  19 :  7-10. 

The  Marriage  of  the  Lamb — The  Bridegroom — The  Bride 
— The  Several  Classes  of  the  Saved — The  Bride's  Ready- 
making — The  Marriage — The  Marriage  Supper — The 
Guests — Certainty  of  the  Revelation,        .        .    pp.  213-236 

LECTURE  FORTY-THIRD. 

Chap.  19 :  11-21. 

Battle  of  the  Great  Day  of  God  Almighty— The  Sublime 
Hero— Comes  Out  of  the  Heaven — His  Horse — His  Char- 
acter— His  Eyes — His  Diadems — His  Names — His  Vesture 
— His  Sword — His  Title — His  Followers — Their  Horses — 
Their  Clothing — The  Armies  Encountered-^The  Laugh 
of  God — Birds  Invited  to  the  Slaughter — Fate  of  the 
Beast  and  False  Prophet — Fate  of  the  Armed  Hosts — 
The  Victory, pp.  237-26^ 

LECTURE  FORTY-FOURTH. 

Chap.  20  :  1-3. 

The  Binding  of  Satan — His  Four  Names — The  Angel  Who 
Apprehends  Him — A  Literal  Transaction — The  Economy 
of  the  Under-world — Hell  —  Sheol  —  Hades  —  Christ's 
Descent  into  Hell — Hades  No  Longer  the  Abode  of  De- 
parted Saints — "  Abaddon  " — The  Abyss — Tartarus — Ge- 
henna— Satan  Imprisoned  in  the  Abyss — Object  of  His 
Imprisonment — Is  Loose  Till  Then — Certainly  Loose 
Now, pp.  263-289 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  EORTY-FIFTH. 

Chap.  20  :  4,  5. 

Vision  of  the  Enthroned  Saints — Its  Connection  with  Pre- 
ceding Chapters — The  Shepherdizing  of  the  Nations — 
The  Shepherdizers — Their  Thrones  —  Their  Judging, 
Power  and  Reign— Special  Notice  of  the  Martyrs — The 
Word  "Souls" — A  Corporeal  Resurrection  Necessarily 
Implied,     .        .        .   " pp.  290-315 

LECTURE  FORTY-SIXTH. 

Chap.  20 :  6. 

The  First  Resurrection — A  Resurrection  of  Saints  Only — 
Takes  Place  in  Successive  Stages — Not  Described  in  any 
One  Vision — Introduces  a  "Wonderful  Change  in  Earth's 
Affairs — Promotes  the  Subjects  of  It  to  a  Transcendent 
Dignity  and  Glory, pp.  316-340 

LECTURE  FORTY-SEVENTH. 

Chap.  20 :  7-15. 

The  Millennium — False  Theories — A  Period  of  1000  Years 
— Another  Dispensation — Condition  of  Things  Then — Its 
Blessedness  Does  Not  End  with  the  1000  Years — Loosing 
Again  of  Satan — Rebellion  of  Gog  and  Magog — Fate  of 
the  Rebels — Satan  Cast  into  Gehenna — The  Great  White 
Throne  —  Its  Occupant  —  The  Final  Resurrection  iand 
Judgment — The  Books  Opened — Grades  of  Punishment 
—The  Lake  of  Fire, pp.. 341-366 

LECTURE  FORTY-EIGHTH.. 

Chap.  21 :  1-8. 

The  Perpetuity  of  the  Earth  and  Race  of  Man — "  End  of 
the  World"  not  the  Extinction  of  the  Earth — Continu- 
ous Generations — The  Redeemed  World — The  Scene  of 
It— The  Blessedness  of  It— The  Occupants  of  It,  pp.  367-393 


CONTENTS.  X!tl 

LECTUKE  FORTY-NINTH. 

Chap.  21  :  9-27. 

The  New  Jerusalem — Materialism  in  the  Future — A  Lit- 
eral City — How  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb — Its  Derivation 
— Its  Location — Its  Splendor — Its  Amplitude — Its  Sys- 
tem of  Illumination— Its  Lack  of  a  Temple— Its  Relation 
to  the  World  at  Large — Its  Superlative  Holiness,  pp.  394-419 

LECTURE  FIFTIETH. 

Chap.  22 :  1-5. 

The  New  Jerusalem,  Continued — A  More  Inward  View — 
The  Wonderful  River— The  Tree  of  Life— The  Curse 
Repealed— The  Enduring  Throne— The  Eternal  Blessed- 
ness,   pp.  420-444 

LECTURE  FIFTY-FIRST. 

Chap.  22  :  6-15. 

Last  Section  of  the  Book — Certainty  of  these  Revelations — 
The  Repeated  Benediction— Effect  on  the  Apostle— Di- 
rection What  to  Do  with  These  Things— Argument  for 
the  Same — Conditions  for  Enjoying  the  Beatitudes  of 
This  Book— A  Particular  Washing  of  Robes,  .     pp.  445-469 

LECTURE  FIFTY-SECOND. 

Chap.  22:  16-21. 

End  of  the  Book— Character  and  Majesty  of  Christ— Time 
of  These  Wonders — How  to  be  Affected  Respecting 
Them— Guards  Around  What  is  Written— Christ's  Sum- 
mation of  the  Whole— True  Attitude  of  the  Church- 
Conclusion,        pp.  469-492 

General  Index,  by  R.  F.  W., p.  493 


.     LECTURE  THIRTY-FOURTH. 

THE  144,000 — THOSE  WHO  MAINTAIN  THE  CONFESSION  OF  CHRIST 
OVER  AGAINST  THE  WORSHIPPERS  OF  THE  BEAST — THE  SAME 
SEALED  ONES  OF  CHAPTER  SEVEN — THEIR  CHIEF  CHARAC- 
TERISTICS— THEIR  PECULIAR  REWARD — THE  FOUR  ANGEL- 
MI 


Rev.  14  :  1-13.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw,  and  behold,  the  Lamb 
standing  on  the  mount  Sion,  and  with  Him  an  144,000,  having  His 
name  and  His  Father's  name  written  on  their  foreheads. 

And  I  heard  a  sound  out  of  the  heaven  as  a  sound  of  many  waters, 
and  as  a  sound  of  great  thunder :  and  the  sound  which  I  heard 
[was]  as  of  harp-singers  harping  with  their  harps.  And  they  sung  a 
new  song  in  the  presence  of  the  throne,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  four 
Living  Ones  and  the  Elders  :  and  no  one  was  able  to  learn  the  song  but 
the  144,000  who  have  been  redeemed  from  the  earth.  These  are  they 
who  were  not  defiled  with  women,  for  they  are  virgins;  these  [arejthey 
who  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth ;  these  were  redeemed 
from  men,  a  first-fruit  to  God  and  to  the  Lamb ;  and  in  their  mouth 
was  not  found  what  is  false  ;  they  are  blameless. 

And  I  saw  another  angel  flying  in  mid  heaven,  having  a  Gospel 
everlasting  to  preach  to  [7(po/i  or  ove?-]  those  who  dwell  upon  the  earth 
and  to  [upott  or  over]  every  nation,  and  tribe,  and  tongue,  and  people, 
Baying  with  a  great  voice.  Fear  God  and  give  to  Him  glory,  becausa 
the  hour  of  His  judgment  is  come :  and  worship  Him  who  made  the 
heaven,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea  and  fountains  of  waters. 

And  there  followed  another,  a  second  angel,  saying,  Fallen,  fallen, 
the  great  Babylon,  which  hath  made  all  the  nations  drink  from  the 
wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication. 

And  there  followed  them  another  angel,  a  third,  saying  with  a  great 
voice.  If  any  one  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  receive  [the] 
mark  on  his  forehead,  or  on  his  hand,  even  he  shall  drink  of  the  wine 
of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  mingled  without  dilution  in  the  cup  of 
His  anger,  and  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  pres- 

(  13  ) 


14  THE    APOCALYPSE, 

ence  of  the  angels  and  in -the  presence  of  the  Lamb  :  and  the  smoke  of 
their  torment  goeth  up  to  the  ages  of  ages  ;  and  they  have  no  rest  day 
or  night,  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  re- 
ceiveth  the  mark  of  his  name. 

Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints  who  keep  the  commandments  of 
God  and  the  faith  of  Jesus.  And  I  heard  a  voice  out  of  the  heaven 
saying,  Write.  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from  hence- 
forth :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  [may,  in  that  theyj  shall  rest 
out  of  their  labors ;  for  their  works  follow  with  them. 


THE  blackest  storms  often  give  place  to  the 
loveliest  sunsets.  The  winds  and  thunders 
exhaust  themselves.  The  clouds  empty  and  break. 
And  from  the  calm  heavens  behind  them  comes  a 
golden  light,  girthing  the  remaining  fragments  of 
gloom  with  chains  of  brightness,  and  overarching 
with  the  bow  of  promise  the  path  along  which  the 
terrible  tempest  has  just  passed.  Like  this  even- 
ing glory  after  the  summer's  gust,  is  the  chapter 
on  which  we  now  enter.  We  have  seen  the  com- 
ing of  the  Antichrist  in  all  the  frowning  blackness 
of  Satan's  angry  malice,  and  have  shuddered  at  the 
awful  shadow,  distress,  and  darkness  which  he  casts 
upon  the  world.  We  have  seen  what  havoc  he 
makes  with  human  peace,  and  the  base  humiliation 
he  brings  upon  the  proud  oaks  and  lofty  cedars  of 
the  mountains  of  human  conceit  and  self-will.  We 
have  felt  the  sickening  shock  of  horror  at  the  con- 
templation of  his  hellish  power,  his  blasphemies, 
and  his  unparalleled  tyranny.  We  have  gazed 
upon  the  progress  of  the  most  disastrous  storm 
hell's  malignant  wisdom  can  devise,  or  that  is  ever 
allowed  to  afflict  our  race.  We  have  watched  the 
thickening  blackness  of  darkness  amid  which  the 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14:1-13.  I5 

indignation  of  God  is  poured  upon  the  intoxicated 
nations  which  will  not  have  Christ  to  rule  over 
them.     But  now  the  scene  begins  to  change.     The 
reign  of  terror  cannot  last.     God's  merciful  good- 
ness cannot  allow  it  long.     The  earth  would  dis- 
solve under  it  if  those  days  were  not  shortened, 
but  for  the  elect's  sake  they  are  shortened.     Three 
and  a  half  years  is  the  fulness  of  their  duration.   In 
heaven's  count  the  tempest  holdsbutfor  an"hour." 
And  here  ah-eady  we  begin  to  see  the  light  break- 
ing in  from  behind  the  clouds  and  darkness.    Fur- 
ther details  of  what  is  to  befall  these  terrible  Beasts, 
their  systems  and  their  followers,  remain  to  be 
looked  at;  but  the  golden  rays  begin  to  show  them- 
selves.    Where  perdition  has  been  holding  grand 
jubilee  of  destruction,  appear  the  symptoms  of  a 
better  order.     The  still  lingering  gloom  begins  to 
show  some  gilding  of  its  edges.     And  over  the 
pathway  of  "  the  abomination  of  desolation  "  are 
seen  the  forming  outlines  of  the  arch  of  beauty, 
hope,  and  peace.     In  place  of  the  horrid  Beasts, 
the  Lamb  comes  into  view.     In  place  of  the  blas- 
pheming herd,  the    redeemed  appear,  with    the 
name  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  upon  their  shining 
brows.     Voices  from  heaven,  intoned  with  mighty 
joy,  and  attuned  to  golden  harps,  are  heard  in 
song, — "new  song,"  fit  to  be    sung   before   the 
throne  and  all  the  celestial  company.     A  first-fruit 
of  a  new  beginning  is  waved  before  God.     Succes- 
sive angels  cleave  the  air  on  outspread  wing  pro- 
claiming messages  of  hope  and  patience  to  the 
faithful  snfterers,  and  telling  of  the  nearing  deliv- 
voL.  III.  59 


16 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


erance.  And  the  whole  picture-  begins  to  look  to 
the  effectual  and  everlasting  sweeping  away  of  the 
horrible  nightmare  of  a  distressed  and  helpless 
world.  The  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son  assist  us  to  a  right  understanding  of  what  it 
all  nieans ! 

I.  Who  are  these  144,000  ?  Some  answer,  they 
are  representatively  the  true  people  of  God  of  all 
ages — the  symbol  of  the  whole  body  of  the  sancti- 
fied and  saved.  Others  say,  they  are  the  choice 
spirits  of  the  congregation  of  the  glorified,  selected 
and  honored  above  all  common  Christians  because 
of  their  pre-eminent  qualities  and  abstinences  on 
earth.  Others  tell  us,  they  are  the  company  of 
those  who  have  remained  true  in  faith  under  the 
errors  and  falsities  of  the  Papacy.  And  still  others 
say,  they  are  none  else  than  the  assembly  of  the 
noble  spirits  who  achieved  the  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  that  their  harp-notes  and 
new  song  is  ''the  harmony  of  the  Reformed  Con- 
fessions!" I  see  not  how  it  is  possible  for  either 
of  these  interpretations  to  stand.  Without  enter- 
ing upon  the  many  points  in  which  they  severally 
fail  to  conform  to  the  record,  I  may  say,  they  all 
do  violence  to  the  consecutiveness  and  self-con- 
sistency of  this  Book,  and  defy  all  legitimate  deal- 
ing with  the  particulars  of  the  sacred  description. 
We  must  find  a  better  meaning,  or  give  in  that  it 
is  impossible  to  do  anything  more  than  guess  at 
what  the  Lord  intended  to  show  us,  whilst  one 
guess  is  just  as  good  and  reliable  as  another.     But 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14:1-13.  If 

God's  Word  is  truth;  and  therefore  there  must  be 
truth  m  this  presentation, — truth  which  will  hold 
together  with  the  rest  of  the  Book,  with  the  dig- 
nity of  a  divine  prophecy  so  solemnly  given,  and 
with  the  grammatical  sense  of  the  words  in  which 
the  account  is  presented.  Nor  do  I  know  why 
candid  and  earnest  men,  but  for  their  arbitrary 
and  stilted  theories,  should  be  at  a  loss  for  an  in- 
terpretation answering  to  the  requirements.  Let 
us  look  at  the  matter  carefully,  and  see. 

A  considerate  glance  at  the  particulars  of  this 
vision  will  at  once  discover  a  direct  and  strong 
contrast  having  special  relation  to  what  went  be- 
fore in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  account  of 
the  144,000  is  really  only  another  side  of  what  is 
related  of  the  Beasts,  the  counterpart  of  the  same 
history.  Over  against  the  wild  and  savage  mon- 
ster is  a  gentle  and  loving  Lamb.  Over  against 
the  confessors  and  worshippers  of  the  Beast,  hav- 
ing his  mark,  is  the  company  of  the  Lamb's  fol- 
lowers, having  their  mark,  even  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son  written  in  their  foreheads. 
Over  against  the  Beast's  moral  system,  which  is 
nothing  but  harlotry,  spiritual  and  literal,  the 
worship  of  idols  and  the  trampling  under  foot  of 
all  God's  institutes,  here  is  an  opposing  style  of 
life  and  conformity — a  virgin  purity  which  refuses 
to  be  debauched  by  the  prevailing  fornication. 
Over  against  the  slavery  of  those  who  sell  them- 
selves to  the  powers  of  perdition  which  then  have 
command  of  the  world,  here  is  redemption  from 


18  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  earth  and  from  man,  a  ransom  out  of  the 
thraldom  which  holds  others.  Over  against  the 
new  order  of  things  set  up  by  the  Antichrist,  these 
sing  "a  new  song," — a  victory  and  glory  never 
shared  by  any  but  them.  Over  against  the  going 
of  the  Beasts  and  their  dupes  into  perdition,  there 
is  here  a  going  whithersoever  the  Lamb  goeth. 
Over  against  the  doings  in  the  presence  of  the 
Beast,  under  his  patronage  and  authority,  the 
doings  here  are  in  the  presence  of  the  Throne, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  Living  On-es  and  El- 
ders, under  the  approval  and  counsels  of  Heaven. 
Everything  in  the  mouth  of  the  Beasts  and  all 
theirs,  is  pseiulos,  false,  a  lie;  the  special  character- 
istic of  these  is,  that  nothing  pseudos,  false,  or  a 
lie  is  found  in  their  mouth.  The  Beast's  number, 
and  that  by  which  he  marks  and  numbers  all  his, 
is  six  sixes,  the  bad  number  intensified;  the  num- 
ber and  numbering  here  is  by  twelves,  the  sacred 
number  of  completeness.  And  in  every  item  there 
is  distinct  allusion  to  things  under  the  Beast,  by 
way  of  contrast  and  opposition,  proving  that  the 
account  of  these  144,000  is  a  counter-part  of  the 
same  history,  which  can  properly  apply  to  none 
but  persons  who  live  contemporaneous  with  the 
Beast,  and  maintain  themselves  by  divine  grace  in 
a  course  of  life  and  profession  over  against  him. 

But  this  is  not  the  first  time  we  hear  of  this 
144,000.  Chapter  seven  told  us  of  a  body  of 
people  consisting  of  this  precise  number,  of  which 
we  can  hardly  suppose  two,  unless  specially  in- 
structed to  that  effect.     The  fact  urged  by  some 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.     14:1-13.  I9 

that  the  company  here  is  not  introduced  as  "  the 
144,000,"  presents  no  grammatical  reason  for  con- 
sidering them  distinct  from  the  144,000  there,  as 
the  hest  of  Greek  scholars  agree.  The  insertion 
of  the  article  is  needless  where  the  identification 
is  otherwise  so  clear,  and  would  only  tend  to  fix 
the  emphasis  at  the  wrong  place.  Nor  could  the 
article,  if  inserted,  make  the  indications  of  identity 
any  stronger  than  they  are.  This  company  is  not 
so  important  as  to  call  for  the  same  sort  of  desig- 
nation as  when  reference  is  made  to  "■  The  Lamb," 
"The  Living  Ones,"  "The  Elders,"  etc.  The 
number  in  Chapter  VII  is  the  same  with  the 
number  here,  —  a  number  so  remarkable  and 
unique,  that  we  must  have  very  clear  reasons  for 
supposing  that  it  does  not  refer  to  the  same  parties 
in  both  instances;  but  no  such  reasons  appear. 
There  the  144,000  are  presented  as  a  select  and 
special  class  of  God's  servants,  chosen,  marked, 
and  set  apart  as  none  else,  sealed  by  an  angel  with 
the  seal  of  the  living  God.  So  with  the  144,000 
here  there  is  a  special  and  peculiar  isolation  from 
all  other  classes  of  the  saved.  They  are  distinct 
from  the  Living  Ones,  from  the  Elders,  and  from 
the  multitude  which  no  man  can  number;  and 
they  are  so  unique  and  separate  in  their  history, 
experience,  and  reward,  that  no  one  is  able  to 
learn  or  sing  the  song  which  they  sing.  Those  in 
Chapter  VII  were  marked  in  their  forehead  with 
the  seal  of  the  living  God ;  these  have  that  mark, 
even  "the  Lamb's  name  and  His  Father's  name 
written  ou  their  foreheads."     Those  were  all  He- 


20  T  H  E    A  P  0  C  A  L  Y  P  S  E. 

brews,  chosen  from  the  several  tribes  of  undivided 
Israel;  and  so  it  would  seem  to  be  with  these. 
They  have  on  their  foreheads  the  name  of  the 
Father,  which  is  the  Jewish  mark.  They  also 
have  their  place  on  Mount  Zion,  which  though  it 
may  not  mean  the  earthly  hill,  still  connects  with 
the  seat  of  the  palace  and  throne  of  David,  Solo- 
mon, and  all  the  Jewish  kings.  Those  sealed 
ones  were  to  be  supernaturally  protected  and  pre- 
served amid  the  plagues  that  followed;  and  these 
appear  as  persons  marvellously  kept  and  sustained 
under  the  consummation  of  those  plagues,  the 
Antichrist.  Tiie  history  of  the  144,000  in  Chapter 
VII  is  incomplete  taken  by  itself.  No  object  or 
outcome  of  that  sealing  is  anywhere  stated,  if  not 
to  be  found  in  the  passage  before  us.  The  position 
these  sealed  ones  were  to  hold,  the  relations  they 
were  to  occupy  as  the  specially  chosen  of  their 
time,  are  all  left  untold  if  not  told  in  this  chapter. 
Neither  can  we  find  adequate  reason  for  the  men- 
tion at  all  of  that  special  sealing  without  some 
such  continuation  of  the  history  as  given  here.  I 
accordiiigly  conclude  with  entire  confidence,  that 
the  144,000  on  Mount  Zion  are  the  identical 
144,000  sealed  ones  spoken  of  in  Chapter  VII, 
with  only  this  difference,  that  there  we  see  them 
in  their  earthly  relations  and  peculiar  consecra- 
tion ;  and  here  we  see  them  with  their  earthly 
career  finished,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  heav- 
enly award  for  their  faithfulness. 

And  this  fixes  what  must  condition  the  whole 
interpretation  of  this  Book,  to  wit,  that  from  the 


LECTUKB    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14:1-13.  £1 

opening  of  the  sixth  seal  until  after  the  sounding 
of  the  seventh  trumpet,  the  third  woe,  and  the 
revelation  of  the  Man  of  sin,  no  more  time  elapses 
than  the  ordinary  length  of  a  human  life;  for  those 
who  are  already  mature  men,  and  capable  of  a 
sacred  setting  apart  as  witnesses  for  God  when 
the  sixth  seal  is  broken,  are  still  living  and  active 
under  the  reign  of  the  Antichrist.  Alas,  what  a 
world  of  learned  labor  thus  falls  to  the  ground ! 

II.  What  are  the  chief  marks  or  characteristics  of 
these  144,000  ?  The  first  and  foremost  is  that  of  a 
true  and  conspicuous  confession.  They  have  the 
name  of  the  Lamb  and  the  name  of  His  Father 
written  on  their  foreheads.  This  is  their  public 
mark  as  against  the  mark  of  the  worshippers  of 
the  Beast.  There  is  nothing  more  honorable  in 
God^s  sight  than  truth  and  faithfulness  of  confes- 
sion. "  With  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto 
salvation."  (Hom.  10  :  10.)  The  confession  of  these 
people  is  in  opposition  to  the  unbelieving  Jew, 
who  rejects  and  repudiates  the  Son;  and  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Antichrist,  who  denies  both  the  Fa- 
ther and  the  Son.  As  children  of  Abraham,  they 
have  embraced  Christianity;  and  as  Christians, 
they  take  issue  with  the  Beast,  and  persist  in  tes- 
tifying against  his  blasphemous  usurpations  of  the 
place  of  God  and  the  only  Saviour. 

Another  particular  is  their  unworldliness.  "Whilst 
most  people  in  their  day  ''dwell  upon  the  earth," 
sit  down  upon  it  as  their  rest  and  choice,  derive 
their  chief  comfort  from  it,  these  are  "  redeemed 


22  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

from  the  earth," — withdrawn  from  it,  bought  away 
by  the  heavenly  promises  and  the  divine  grace  to 
live  above  it,  independent  of  it,  as  no  longer  a 
part  of  it.  Also  is  it  said  that  they  are  "  redeemed 
from  men," — segregated  entirely  from  the  com- 
mon course  of  the  world,  and  removed  from  the 
ordinary  fellowship  of  men.  Less  than  this  the 
language  concerning  them  can  scarcely  mean. 
They  are  quite  severed  from  the  world  in  heart 
and  life. 

A  third  point  is  their  pureness.  We  are  not  to 
suppose  with  some  that  these  144,000  are  all  males 
who  have  never  been  married;  for  there  is  no 
more  impurity  in  marriage  than  in  abstinence 
from  marriage.  Celibacy  is  not  the  subject  or 
virtue  in  this  description,  but  purity,  freedom  from 
contamination  by  the  corruptions  which  prevail  in 
their  time.  The  reign  of  the  Antichrist  is  the 
reign  of  harlotry,  both  literal  and  spiritual.  It  is 
a  time  when  chaste  marriage  is  no  more  regarded 
than  the  worship  of  the  true  God.  But  from  all 
such  defilements  these  people  have  kept  them- 
selves unspotted.  "They  are  virgins,"  in  that^ 
they  have  Hved  chaste  lives,  both  as  to  their  faith- 
fulness to  God  in  their  religion,  and  as  to  their 
pureness  from  all  bodily  lewdness.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  likened  to  "  ten  virgins."  The  object 
of  Paul's  ministry  to  the  Corinthians  was,  that  he 
might  present  them  "  as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ." 
And  this  is  the  sort  of  virginity  attained  and  main- 
tained by  these  people. 

A  further  quality  is  their  truthfulness.     "In 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14:1-13.  23 

their  mouth  was  not  found  what  is  false."  There 
is  a  peculiar  depth  in  John's  conception  of  truth 
and  its  opposite  falsehood.  Any  one  who  fails  to 
confess  Christ  in  all  the  length  and  breadth  of 
His  nature  and  offices,  any  one  who  fails  to  live 
his  profession  or  to  show  by  his  works  what  he 
speaks  with  his  lips,  is  to  him  a  liar.  The  mean- 
ing here  has  the  same  deep  significance.  It  is  a 
great  thing  for  people  to  be  careful  about  their 
conversation,  always  conforming  their  words  to  the 
reaUty  of  things.  To  speak  falsehood,  to  exercise 
a  deceitful  and  untrustworthy  tongue,  is  a  devilish 
thing ;  for  Satan  is  a  liar  and  the  father  of  lies. 
These  people  were  truthful  in  these  respects,  but 
had  also  a  higher  and  profounder  truthfulness. 
The  times  in  which  they  live  are  the  times  of  hell's 
worst  lies, — times  when  the  whole  world  has  gone 
mad  over  lies, — times  when  the  entire  order  of  so- 
ciety is  a  lie, — times  when  men's  religion  is  a  lie, — 
times  when  their  very  god  is  a  lie, — times  when 
everything  is  pryed  away  from  the  foundation  of 
truth  by  the  dreadful  leverage  which  perdition 
then  possesses.  And  it  is  over  against  all  this 
that  nothing  false  is  found  in  their  mouth.  They 
have  the  true  faith ;  they  hold  to  it  with  a  true 
heart;  they  exemplify  it  by  a  true  manner  of  life. 
They  are  the  children  of  truth  in  the  midst  of  a 
world  of  untruth. 

III.  What,  then,  is  their  Reward?  Taking  the 
last  particular  first,  they  stand  approved,  justified, 
and  accepted  before  God.     "  They  are  blameless." 


24  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

The  added  words,  "  before  the  throne  of  God,"  are 
not  in  the  best  manuscripts,  and  are  dropped  now 
by  common  consent  as  no  part  of  the  original. 
They  make  no  difference  in  the  sense,  for  the 
blamelessness  of  these  people  must  needs  be  a 
blamelessness  before  the  throne;  but  if  the  phrase 
be  emphasized  it  might  suggest  a  connection  with 
the  throne  which  does  not  here  exist.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  these  144,000  are  by  no  means  the 
highest  class  of  saints,  as  some  have  erroneously 
supposed.  They  do  not  come  into  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  saved  until  after  the  highest  orders  of 
the  saints  have  been  caught  up  to  God  and  to  His 
throne.  The  Living  Ones  are  saints  from  the 
earth,  for  they  sing  the  song  of  redemption  by  the 
blood  of  Christ.  So  also  are  the  Elders.  But 
these  are  already  in  their  heavenly  glory  wearing 
the  crowns  which  Christ  will  give  at  that  day, 
even  before  these  people  are  sealed.  These  144,000 
sing  their  song  m  the  prese7ice  of  the  Living  Ones 
and  the  gold-crowned  Elders;  this  expresses  a 
lesser  dignity.  Neither  is  there  a  word  said  about 
crowns  for  them.  They  sing  in  the  presence  of 
the  throne,  but  they  are  not  connected  with  it,  as 
the  Living  Ones,  nor  seated  on  associated  thrones, 
as  the  Elders.  They  are  not  therefore  of  the  high- 
est orders  of  the  saved  and  glorified.  There  are 
many  mansions  in  the  Father's  house,  many  de- 
grees in  glory,  and  many  ranks  of  saints  as  well 
as  of  angels.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  saved 
with  loss,  such  a  thing  as  missing  our  crowns  even 
though  we  may  get  to  heaven.     There  are  also 


LECTURE   XXXIV.    CHAP.    14  :  1-13.  25 

many  ^.^  virgins,"  real  virgins,  who  go  and  bu}^  and 
come  at  length  with  deficiencies  repaired,  but  are 
in  readiness  too  late  to  be  admitted  to  the  place 
and  honor  of  the  queen.  These  144,000  are  vir- 
gins; they  come  to  glorious  honor  through  their 
confession,  purity,  and  devotion ;  but  they  come 
in  at  a  period  when  the  Bride  is  already  made  up, 
and  cannot  be  of  the  first  and  highest  order  of  the 
glorified.  But  still,  they  are  approved  and  justi- 
fied before  God,  which  is  in  itself  a  great,  high, 
and  glorious  attainment.  To  stand  before  God 
approved  and  blameless  from  the  midst  of  a  con- 
demned world, — a  world  given  over  to  the  powers 
of  perdition  by  reason  of  its  unbelief  and  sins, — a 
world  which  has  become  the  theatre  of  all  the  con- 
summated wickedness  of  the  ages, — a  world  in 
which  it  is  death  to  wear  any  badge  or  adhere  to 
any  profession  contrary  to  the  mark  of  the  Anti- 
christ, is  an  achievement  of  grace  and  faithfulness 
in  which  there  may  well  be  mighty  exultation. 

In  the  next  place,  they  have  a  song  which  is  pe- 
culiarly and  exclusively  their  own.  Though  not 
connected  with  the  throne,  as  the  Living  Ones,  nor 
crowned  and  seated  as  the  Elders,  they  have  a 
ground  and  subject  of  joy  and  praise  which  neither 
the  Living  Ones  nor  the  Elders  have;  nor  is  any 
one  able  to  enter  into  that  song  except  the  144,000. 
None  others  ever  fulfil  just  such  a  mission,  as  none 
others  are  ever  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  living 
God  in  the  same  way  in  which  they  were  sealed. 
Kone  others  ever  have  just  such  an  experience,  in 
such  a  world  as  that  through  w^hich  they  come  to 
glory.     None  others  share  with  them  in  that  par- 


26  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ticular  administration  of  God  which  brings  them 
away  from  the  earth  and  men  to  their  place  on 
Mount  Zion.  Therefore,  as  angels  cannot  sing 
the  song  of  the  redeemed,  never  having  been  the 
subjects  of  redemption,  so  no  other  saints  can  sing 
the  peculiar  song  of  this  144,000.  They  have  a 
distinction  and  glory,  a  joy  and  blessedness,  after 
all,  in  which  none  but  themselves  can  ever  share. 
They  stand  with  the  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion.  To 
be  with  the  Lamb,  as  over  against  being  with  the 
Beast,  is  a  perfection  of  blessing  which  no  lan- 
guage can  describe.  It  is  redemption.  It  is  vic- 
tory. It  is  eternal  security  and  glory.  To  be  with 
the  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion  is  a  more  special  position 
and  relation.  It  respects  Jerusalem  and  the  throne 
of  David.  It  will  not  meet  the  case  to  take  Mount 
Zion  here  as  simply  "the  heavenly  Jerusalem;" 
for  that  is  not  so  distinctively  the  standing-place  or 
point  of  occupation  of  these  144,000.  It  must  take 
in  some  new  and  exalted  order  touching  the  earthly 
Jerusalem,  the  Jewish  nationality,  and  that  throne 
and  Kingdom  of  David  everywhere  promised  to 
be  rebuilt  and  restored,  never  to  fail  any  more. 
The  scene  thus  looks  over  into  the  new  earth,  to 
that  time  when  **the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall 
return,  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlast- 
ing joy  upon  their  heads,  and  shall  obtain  joy  and 
gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away" 
(Is.  35  :  10), — to  that  time  when  "  they  shall  call  Je- 
rusalem the  throne  of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  nations 
shall  be  gathered  unto  it,  to  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
to  Jerusalem"  (Jer.  3 :  17), — to  that  time  when  "  the 


LECTURE    XXXIV.     CHAP.     14;   1-13.  27 

Lord  of  Hosts  shall  reigii  in  Mount  Zion,  and  in 
Jerusalem,  and  before  His  ancients  gloriously" 
(Is.  24:  23).  Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  Jeru- 
salem which  have  never  yet  been  fulfilled.  On 
His  holy  hill  of  Zion  God  hath  said  that  He  will 
set  up  His  King,  even  His  Son,  who  shall  rule  all 
the  nations  (Ps.  2).  The  Lamb  is  yet  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  city  where  He  was  crucified,  there 
to  fulfil  what  was  written  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and 
Latin  over  His  head  when  He  died.  And  when 
that  once  comes  to  pass,  these  144,000  are  with 
Him,  His  near  and  particular  associates  in  that 
particular  relation  and  administration. 

They  are  "  a  first-fruit  to  God  and  to  the  Lamb," 
not  the  first-fruit  of  all  the  saved,  for  the  Living 
Ones  and  the  Elders  are  in  heavenly  place  and 
glory  above  and  before  them ;  but  a  first-fruit  of 
another  and  particular  harvest;  the  first-fruit 
from  the  Jewish  field,  in  that  new  beginning  with 
the  Israelitish  people  for  their  fathers'  sakes, 
which  is  to  follow  the  ending  of  the  present  "  times 
of  the  Gentiles."  What  the  Living  Ones  and 
Elders  are  to  the  Church  universal,  these  144,000 
are  to  the  recovered,  restored  and  redeemed  chil- 
dren of  Abraham,  in  that  new  order  which  is  to 
come  when  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  are  fulfilled. 
They  are  all  Jews.  They  are  brought  to  the  con- 
fession of  Christ,  and  sealed  in  their  foreheads 
with  the  name  of  both  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
during  the  time  that  the  rest  of  their  blood-kin 
are  covenanting  with  and  honoring  the  Antichrist 
as  Messiah.    They  are  the  particular  witnesses  for 


28  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

tlie  Father  and  the  Son  during  those  darkest  days 
of  Jacob's  trouble.  And  they  take  the  iirst  rank 
with  Christ  in  His  special  reUitions  and  adminis- 
trations in  the  final  redemption  of  the  Hebrew 
race.  For  this  they  were  extraordinarily  sealed, 
and  this  is  the  reward  of  their  faithfulness  as 
against  the  lies  and  infamies  of  the  Beast.  Hence, 
also,  it  pertains  to  their  honor  and  blessedness  to 
attend  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth.  They 
are  His  heavenly  suite  and  train  in  all  His  reign 
on  Mount  Zion. 

I\^.  Whai^  noiv,  of  (he  Angel-Messagesf  When 
Christ  made  His  last  entry  into  Jerusalem,  and 
fault  was  found  v/ith  the  loud  proclamations  which 
were  ringing  to  His  praise  as  the  Messiah-King, 
He  answered:  "If  these  should  hold  their  peace, 
the  stones  would  immediately  cry  out."  The  truth 
of  God  and  His  claims  must  be  spoken.  If  men 
are  silent,  other  things  must  become  vocal  to  tes- 
tify for  Jehovah.  And  when  Antichrist  succeeds 
in  hushing  up,  or  burying  away  in  caves,  moun- 
tains, and  wildernesses  all  testimony  for  the  Eter- 
nal One  whom  he  seeks  to  abolish,  the  heavens 
speak,  and  the  angels  whom  he  cannot  touch  or 
slay  become  the  preachers.  Mid-heaven  is  their 
pulpit,  and  all  nations,  tribes,  tongues,  and  peoples 
are  their  auditors.  Hell  may  slay,  imprison,  and 
silence  every  human  witness  for  God,  but  cannot 
chain  the  proclamation  of  His  truth.  God's  word 
cannot  be  bound.  It  liveth  and  abideth  forever. 
It  must  be  heard. 


LECTURE   XXXIV.    C  HA  P.   14  :  I -13.  29 

The  First  Message. — That  an  Angel  is  the  preacher 
here,  is  proof  positive  that  the  present  dispensa- 
tion is  then  past  and  changed.  Of  old,  Angels 
were  employed  for  the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  in 
the  Judgment  time  they  are  everywhere  repre- 
sented as  again  taking  very  conspicuous  part  in 
the  divine  administrations  with  regard  to  our 
world;  but  in  the  dispensation  under  which  we 
now  are,  the  charge  of  preaching  and  witnessing 
for  God  and  the  declaring  of  His  Word,  is  the  pe- 
culiar office  of  the  Church.  It  is  a  calling  and 
office  committed  to  men,  to  the  chosen  of  our 
human  race.  Angels  are  ministers  to  the  heirs 
of  salvation,  but  not  in  the  sense  of  being  the 
appointed  public  proclaimers  and  preachers  of  the 
Gospel.  That  is  man's  work,  and  man's  peculiar 
honor,  as  things  now  are  constituted.  But  here 
Angels  are  the  preachers,  with  three  or  four  dis- 
tinct messages:  one  "having  a  Gospel  everlast- 
ing;" one  proclaiming  the  doom  of  Babylon;  and 
one  denouncing  eternal  damnation  upon  every 
worshipper  of  the  Beast,  or  wearer  of  his  mark. 
Of  course,  then,  we  have  here  another  dispensa- 
tion, a  different  order  of  things  from  that  which 
now  obtains.  The  same  is  also  intimated  in  the 
features  of  the  Word  preached.  It  is  no  longer 
the  meek  and  entreating  voice,  beseeching  men  to 
be  reconciled  to  God,  but  a  great  thunder  from 
the  sky,  demanding  of  the  nations  to  Fear  the  God, 
as  over  against  the  false  god  whom  they  were 
adoring, — to  Give  glory  to  Hmij  instead  of  the  in- 
famous  Beast  whom   they    were   glorifying, — to 


30  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Worship  the  Maker  of  all  things,  as  against  the 
worship  of  him  who  can  do  no  more  than  play  his 
hellish  tricks  with  the  things  that  are  made;  and 
all  this  on  the  instant,  for  the  reason  that  "  the  hour 
of  judgment  is  come.'' 

Paul  once  said,  if  an  angel  from  heaven  preach 
unto  you  any  other  Gospel  than  that  ye  have  re- 
ceived, let  him  be  accursed.  And  when  he  so 
said,  he  spoke  the  very  truth  of  God;  but  it  is  the 
truth  with  special  reference  to  the  present  dispen- 
sation, till  the  Church-period  has  come  to  its  end 
in  the  day  of  judgment;  for  here,  when  "  the  judg- 
ment is  come,''  an  angel  from  heaven  preaches,  and 
what  he  preaches  is  not  "  the  everlasting  Gospel" 
as  the  English  version  is,  but  "  a  Gospel  everlast- 
ing." It  is  not  indeed  "  another  Gospel,"  for  it 
is  in  inner  substance  the  same  old  and  everlasting 
Gospel,  but  now  in  the  dress  and  features  of  a  new 
order  of  things — the  Gospel  as  its  contents  shape 
themselves  in  its  address  to  the  nations  when  "  the 
hour  of  judgment  is  come,"  and  the  great  final 
administrations  are  in  hand. 

Luther  once  said  that  he  did  not  like  this  Book, 
because  its  spirit  did  not  agree  with  his  feelings 
as  to  the  Gospel.  He  was  right  as  to  the  fact. 
His  great  soul,  permeated  through  and  through 
with  the  very  life  and  spirit  of  reconciliation  in 
Christ  Jesus  as  now  preached  to  men,  felt  that 
here  is  something  different,  just  as  the  Christian 
heart  is  disturbed  by  the  imprecatory  Psalms. 
But  when  we  locate  the  matter  rightly,  and  learn 
that  here  the  Church-period  has  given  place  to 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14:1-13.  gj 

the  presence  and  ongoing  of  the  day  and  hour  of 
judgment,  the  whole  matter  clears  up.  Mercy 
towards  the  poor  infatuated  world  still  lingers  in 
the  very  hour  of  wrath.  In  the  heat  and  height 
of  his  indignation  God  still  remembers  it.  Hence 
still  something  of  a  Gospel  message  sounds.  And 
when  there  is  no  more  voice  on  earth  to  speak  it, 
an  angel  from  heaven,  uttering  himself  from  the 
sky,  proclaims  to  the  guilty  nations  where  they 
are,  what  has  come,  and  what  immediate  revolu- 
tion is  needed,  if  they  would  not  sink  at  once  to 
everlasting  destruction.  It  is  Gospel,  but  it  is  the 
Gospel  in  the  form  it  takes  when  the  hour  of  judg- 
ment has  set  in.  It  is  one  of  the  very  last  calls 
of  grace  to  an  apostate  world. 

I'he  Second  Message. — With  the  hour  of  judg- 
ment comes  the  work  of  judgment.  A  colossal 
system  of  harlotry  and  corruption  holds  dominion 
over  the  nations.  There  is  no  country,  no  people, 
but  is  won  to  it,  and  intoxicated  by  it,  and  induced 
to  cast  off  all  the  bonds  of  sacredness  for  the  in- 
famous delusions  of  the  Antichrist  and  his  false 
prophet.  God  has  allowed  it  for  the  punishment 
of  those  who  would  not  have  Christ  for  their 
Lord,  but  now  He  will  not  allow  it  longer.  There- 
fore another  Angel  comes  with  the  proclamation : 
''  Fallen,  fallen,  the  great  Babylon,  which  hath  made 
all  the  nations  drink  from  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her 
fornication,^'  The  announcement  is  by  anticipa- 
tion as  on  the  very  eve  of  accomplishment,  and  as 
surely  now^  to  be  fulfilled.  The  particulars  are 
VOL.  III.  60 


32  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

given  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  chapters. 
There  also  the  explanation  of  the  object  of  this  an- 
nouncement is  given.  It  is  mercy  still  struggling 
in  the  toils  of  judgment,  if  that  by  any  means  some 
may  yet  be  snatched  from  the  opening  jaws  of 
hell;  for  there  the  further  word  is,  ''Come  out 
of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  may  have  no  fellowship 
with  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her 
plagues." 

The  Third  Message.  —  And  for  the  still  more 
potent  enforcement  of  this  call  a  third  Angel  ap- 
pears, preaching  and  crying  with  a  great  voice, 
that  whosoever  is  found  worshipping  the  Beast 
and  his  image,  or  has  the  Beast's  mark  on  his 
forehead  or  on  his  hand,  even  he  shall  drink  of 
the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God  which  is  mingled 
without  dilution  in  the  cup  of  His  anger,  and 
shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the 
presence  of  the  angels  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lamb,  and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascends  to 
the  ages  of  ages,  and  they  have  no  rest  day  and 
night!  It  is  an  awful  commination;  but  these  are 
times  of  awful  guilt,  infatuation,  and  wickedness. 
And  when  men  are  in  such  dangers,  marching 
direct  into  the  mouth  of  such  a  terrible  perdition, 
it  is  a  great  mercy  in  God  to  make  proclamation 
of  it  with  all  the  force  of  an  Angel's  eloquence. 
The  same  is  also  for  the  wronged  and  suffering 
ones  who  feel  the  power  of  these  terrible  oppres- 
sors. It  tells  them  how  their  awful  griefs  shall  be 
avenged  on  their  hellish  persecutors.     So,  there- 


LECTURE    XXXIV.    CHAP.    14  :  1  -  13.  33 

fore,  with  mighty  energy  the  Angel  proclaims  the 
eternal  doom  of  the  abettors  of  the  Antichrist. 

There  be  those  who  mock  and  jeer  at  the  idea  of 
an  eternal  hell  for  the  wicked.  Many  are  the  jests 
they  perpetrate  at  the  expense  of  these  preachers 
of  fire  and  brimstone.  Bat  here  a  great  and 
mighty  Angel  from  heaven  is  the  preacher,  and 
his  sermon  from  beginning  to  end  is  nothing  but 
fire  and  brimstone,  even  everlasting  burning  and 
torment  for  all  who  take  the  mark  of  Antichrist ! 
Shall  we  believe  our  modern  sentimental  philoso- 
phers, or  abide  by  the  word  of  our  God  and  of  his 
holy  angels  ?  Alas,  alas,  for  the  infatuated  people 
who  comfort  themselves  with  the  belief  that  per- 
dition is  a  myth — the  bugbear  of  antiquated  super- 
stition ! 

The  Fourth  Message, — There  is  no  suffering  for 
any  class  of  God's  people  in  any  age,  like  the  suf- 
ferings of  those  who  remain  faithful  to  God  during 
the  reign  of  the  Antichrist.  Here,  at  this  particu- 
lar time  and  juncture,  is  the  patience  or  endurance 
of  them  that  keep  the  commandments  of  God  and 
the  faith  of  Jesus.  To  come  out  of  Babylon,  and 
to  stand  aloof  from  its  horrible  harlotries,  is  a 
costly  thing.  It  is  equivalent  to  a  voluntary  com- 
ing forward  to  the  state-block  to  have  their  heads 
chopped  oft'.  Therefore  there  is  another  procla- 
mation from  heaven  for  their  special  strengthen- 
ing and  consolation.  Whether  this  word  is  also 
from  an  Angel  we  are  not  told ;  but  it  is  a  message 
from  glory  and  from  God.    And  it  is  a  sweet  and 


34  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

blessed  message.  It  is  a  message  which  John  is 
specially  commanded  to  write,  that  it  may  be  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  God's  people  of  every  age, 
and  take  away  all  fear  from  those  who  in  this  evil 
time  are  called  to  lay  down  their  lives  because 
they  will  not  worship  Antichrist.  That  message 
is :  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  ivho  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth :  Yea,  saiih  the  Spirit,  thai  they  may,  in 
that  they  shall,  rest  out  of  their  labors,  for  their  works 
follow  with  them.''  This  is  true  of  all  the  saints 
of  all  ages,  but  it  is  pre-eminently  and  specially 
true  of  those  who  at  this  time  lose  their  lives  for 
their  faithful  obedience.  It  may  look  like  ca- 
lamity, but  in  comparison  with  the  miseries  of  a 
life  of  faith  under  such  a  hellish  despot,  it  is  a 
blessedness.  Death  to  a  good  man  at  any  time  is 
a  greater  beatitude  than  a  disaster;  and  when  a 
life  of  truth  and  honor  becomes  so  great  a  sorrow 
as  at  this  time,  it  is  a  blessedness  to  have  it  ended. 
The  implication  is,  that  from  this  point  on  till 
death  itself  is  vanquished,  there  is  no  more  peace 
or  comfort  for  a  good  man  on  earth,  and  therefore 
that  no  better  thing  can  happen  him  than  to  die. 
When  there  is  no  more  peace  for  us  but  in  death, 
why  should  we  wish  to  live  ?  When  all  hope  for 
earth  has  faded  out,  why  should  we  desire  to  re- 
main in  it  ?  When  to  open  our  mouths  for  Christ, 
or  to  bow  the  knee  or  speak  a  prayer  to  the  God 
that  made  us,  exposes  to  indignity  and  torture, 
why  not  welcome  death,  and  account  it  good  for- 
tune to  have  the  chance  for  such  a  release  ?  Best 
— Best!    What  would  not  those  dupes  of  Anti- 


LECTURE   XXXIV.    CHAP.    14  :  1  - 13.  35 

Christ  fioally  give  for  Rest!  But  what  they  can 
never  have,  they  that  die  in  the  Lord  get  through 
death.  Like  the  worn  mariner  wearied  out  with 
his  long  and  painful  endurance  of  the  tempests, 
dangers,  and  hardships  of  the  sea,  enters  the  calm 
port  for  which  he  steered  so  hard ; — like  the  sol- 
dier, scarred,  mutilated,  and  sick  of  the  miseries 
of  deadly  conflict,  comes  back  from  the  field  of 
blood  to  repose  in  the  peace  and  security  of  his 
happy  home ; — so  do  they  rest  out  of  their  labors. 
And  their  works  follow  with  them.  The  very 
hardships  past  make  the  peace  the  sweeter.  ISTot 
a  word  of  faithful  testimony,  not  a  tear  of  sym- 
pathy, not  a  sigh  of  prayer,  not  a  gift  of  a  cup  of 
water  in  a  disciple's  name,  shall  fail  in  its  contri- 
bution to  the  blessedness.  Therefore  it  is  written : 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth."  And  when  violence,  cruelty,  and 
slaughter  are  the  consequence  of  a  life  of  truth 
and  purity,  the  sooner  it  is  over  the  greater  the 
beatitude. 

Here,  then,  is  the  comfort  of  the  saints.  What- 
ever they  suffer,  their  peace  is  sure.  Unable  to 
live,  death  is  their  blessedness.  Heaven  speaks 
it.  The  Spirit  confirms  it.  The  apostles  of  God 
have  written  it.  And  from  it  springs  a  consola- 
tion— 

Which  monarchs  cannot  grant,  nor  all  the  powers 
Of  earth  and  hell  confederate  take  away ; — 
A  liberty  which  persecution,  fraud, 
Oppression,  prisons,  have  no  power  to  bind. 


LECTURE  THIRTY-FIFTH. 

THE  VISION  OF  THE  HARVEST — A  HARVEST  OF  WOE  AND 
JUDGMENT — THE  PARTICULARS  OF  THE  DESCRIPTION  — 
THE  ANGEL-CRY  FOR  THE  SENDING  OF  THE  SHARP  SICKLE 
—  THE  REAPING  —  THE  VISION  OF  THE  VINTAGE — THE 
ANGEL  OUT  OF  THE  TEMPLE — THE  GREAT  CRY  FROM  THE 
ALTAR  FOR  THE  SENDING  OF  THE  SHARP  SICKLE  —  THE 
GATHERING  OF  THE  VINE  OF  THE  EARTH — THE  TREADING 
OF    THE    WINE-PRESS. 


Rev.  14  :  14-16.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  and  behold  a  white 
cloud,  and  upon  the  cloud  is  seated  one  like  a  son  of  man,  having  on 
his  head  a  crown  of  gold,  and  in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle.  And  another 
angel  came  out  of  the  temple,  crying  with  a  great  voice  to  him  that  sat 
on  the  cloud,  Send  thy  sickle,  and  reap  ;  because  the  time  to  reap  is 
come,  because  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  dried  [dead  ripe]. 

And  he  that  sat  on  the  cloud  cast  his  sickle  on  the  earth,  and  the 
earth  was  reaped. 

And  another  angel  came  out  of  the  temple  which  is  in  the  heaven,  he 
also  having  a  sharp  sickle.  And  another  angel  came  out  of  the  altar, 
he  who  hath  power  over  the  fire  ;  and  he  cried  with  a  great  cry  to  him 
who  had  the  sharp  sickle,  saying,  Send  thy  sharp  sickle,  and  gather 
the  clusters  of  the  vine  of  the  earth,  because  her  grapes  are  fully  ripe. 

And  the  angel  cast  his  sickle  into  the  earth  and  gathered  the  vine 
of  the  earth,  and  cast  [what  he  gathered]  into  the  great  wine-press  of 
the  wrath  of  God.  And  the  wine-press  was  trodden  outside  of  the  city, 
and  blood  came  forth  out  of  the  wine-press  up  to  the  bits  of  the  horses, 
for  a  distance  of  a  thousand  six  hundred  stadia. 

PROCLAMATION  having  gone  forth  that  the 
hour  of  judgnaent  is  come,  that  great  Babylon 
is  on  the  brink  of  her  fall,  and  that  the  damnation 
of  every  worshipper  of  the  Beast  is  at  hand,  we 
(36) 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:  14-16.  37 

find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  the  last  great  ad- 
ministrations of  divine  wrath.  And  the  nature 
and  machinery  of  those  administrations  is  the 
matter  which  now  comes  before  us.  The  more 
specific  details  are  given  in  the  succeeding  chap- 
ters, but  a  general  summation  is  first  presented  in 
two  visions,  the  Harvest  and  the  Vintage,  which, 
for  awful  brevity  of  narration  and  expressiveness 
of  imagery,  are  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  in  all 
this  wonderful  Book.  God  help  us  to  consider 
them  with  reverent  and  believing  hearts! 

I.  The  Vision  of  the  Harvest. 

Some  worthy  expositors  take  this  as  a  fore- 
showing of  the  final  gathering  home  of  the  people 
of  God.  That  the  Scriptures  often  speak  of  such 
a  harvest  of  the  good  seed  of  the  Saviour's  sowing 
there  can  be  no  question.  John  the  Baptizer  spoke 
of  a  time  of  threshing,  when  the  Lord  "  will 
gather  the  wheat  into  His  garner."  (Luke  3  :  17.) 
The  Saviour  commenced  His  heavenly  instruc- 
tions with  an  account  of  His  sowing  and  hus- 
bandry, the  harvest  of  which  he  said  would  be 
"  the  end  of  the  age,"  when  He  ''  will  say  to  the 
reapers.  Gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn."  (Matt. 
13.)  He  also  said,  "  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God, 
as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground,  and 
should  sleep  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed 
should  spring  and  grow  up,  he  knoweth  not  how; 
for  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in 


38 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


the  ear.  But  when  the  fruit  is  brought  forth, 
immediately  he  putteth  in  the  sickle,  because  the 
harvest  is  come."  (Mark  4 :  26-29.)  But  that  this 
is  the  harvest  foreshown  in  the  text  seems  to  me 
very  improbable,  if  not  entirely  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. According  to  the  record  up  to  this  point, 
the  great  harvest  of  the  good  seed  has  already 
been  reaped.  The  Living  Ones,  the  Elders,  the 
innumerable  multitude,  the  Man-child,  and  the 
144,000,  all  of  whom  are  of  the  good  seed,  are  in 
heaven  before  this  reaping  comes.  This  reaping 
is  also  immediately  preceded  by  the  gathering  of 
a  great  company  to  glory,  which  is  very  unac- 
countably separated  from  the  harvest  of  saints 
directly  to  follow,  if  so  we  are  to  understand  it. 
Ordinarily,  indeed,  we  would  think  of  harvest  as 
a  thing  of  gladness  and  blessing.  The  Scriptures 
also  speak  of  harvest  as  a  great  joy.  But  it  is  the 
same  with  respect  to  the  vintage,  which  all  accept 
as  here  applying  exclusively  to  the  punishment 
of  the  wicked.  Any  argument  of  that  character 
bears  as  strongly  against  taking  the  vintage  in 
the  sense  of  a  destruction  as  the  taking  of  the  har- 
vest in  that  sense. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  evil  has  its  harvest 
as  well  as  good.  There  is  a  harvest  of  misery  and 
woe, — a  harvest  for  the  gathering,  binding,  and 
burning  of  the  tares, — as  well  as  for  the  gathering 
of  the  wheat  into  the  garner  of  heaven.  And  this 
harvest  of  punishment  has  quite  as  prominent  a 
place  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  harvest  of  the  gath- 
ering home  of  the  saints.     "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14  :  14-16.  39 

of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel ;  the  daughter  of  Baby- 
lon is  like  a  threshing  floor,  it  is  time  to  thresh 
her;  yet  a  little  while  and  the  time  of  her  harvest 
shall  come."  (Jer.  61 :  38.)     Here  is  a  harvest  of 
judgment, — a  harvest  of  woe  to  Babylon,  and  the 
harvest  of  the  text  follows  as  the  direct  conse- 
quence of  the  proclamation  of  great  Babylon's  fall. 
Is  it  not,  therefore,  most  naturally  to  be  taken  as 
the  same  in  both  cases?     So  again  in  Joel  (3:  11- 
16),   looking  to  the  very  time  and  events  with 
which  we  are  here  concerned,  the  word  is:    "  As- 
semble yourselves,  and  come,  all  ye  heathen,  and 
gather  yourselves  together  round  about;  thither 
cause  thy  mighty  ones  to  come  down,   O    Lord. 
Let  the  heathen  be  awakened,  and  come  up  to  the 
valley  of  Jehoshaphat :  for  there  will  I  sit  to  judge 
all  the  heathen  round  about.  Put  ye  in  the  sickle, 
for  the  harvest  is  ripe  :    come,  get  you  down,  for 
the  press  is  full,  the  vats  overflow ;  for  their  wicked- 
ness is  great.    Multitudes,  multitudes  in  the  valley 
of  decision  :  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  near  in  the 
valley  of  decision.     The  sun  and  the  moon  shall 
be  darkened,  and  the  stars  shall  withdraw  their 
shining.     The  Lord  also  shall  roar  out  of  Zion, 
and   utter   his  voice    from    Jerusalem,    and    the 
heavens  and  the  earth  shall  shake."    Here  is  both 
a  harvest  and  a  vintage ;  the  one  like  and  part  of 
the  other,  and  both  exclusively  applicable  to  the 
destruction  of  the  wicked.     This  harvest  and  this 
vintage  are  unquestionably  the  same  described  in 
the  text.     They  belong  to  the  same  period  of  time, 
they  are  called  for  after  the  same  manner,  and  for 


40  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  same  activities;  and  they  respect  the  same 
parties,  whether  as  to  the  bearer  of  the  sickle,  the 
reapers,  or  the  persons  whom  the  reaping  touches. 
It  seems  to  me  impossible,  therefore,  rightfully  to 
take  this  harvest  as  anything  else  than  the  final 
cutting  off  of  the  hosts  of  the  wicked,  the  visita- 
tion upon  them  of  the  fruits  of  their  sovring.  That 
harvest  of  which  the  144,000  are  a  first-fruit  is  a 
very  different  matter  from  this.  That  is  a  harvest 
of  gathering  to  the  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion ;  this  is 
a  gathering  to  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  for  de- 
struction. Verse  15  is  a  literal  allusion  to  Isaiah 
27 :  11,  which  refers  to  a  scene  of  breaking  and 
burning,  and  final  withdrawal  of  all  mercy.  The 
express  mention  of  the  sharpness  of  the  sickle  also 
shows  that  we  have  to  do  with  a  scene  of  judgment. 
The  mention  of  the  cloud  likewise  points  to  a  work 
of  judgment,  for  wherever  Christ  appears  on  a 
cloud,  the  work  immediately  in  hand  is  always  a 
judgment.  The  name  of  the  Son  of  man  also 
points  in  the  same  direction ;  for  it  is  as  the  Son 
of  man  that  all  judgment  has  been  committed  to 
Christ.  (Jno.  5  :  27.)  And  such  a  contrast  as  would 
make  only  the  vintage  expressive  of  wrath  and 
punishment,  and  the  harvest  one  of  a  purely 
gracious  character,  has  not  a  single  trait  or  item  of  r 
the  account  to  support  it.*    The  harvest  is  simply 

*  Mede,  Bishop  Newton,  Lowman,  Doddridge,  Bengel,  Hengsten- 
berg,  Faber,  Stuart,  W.  Robinson,  William  Jones,  etc.,  agree  that  the 
harvest  as  well  as  the  vintage  here  denotes  a  harvest  of  wrath.  Mede 
well  observes,  "  that  the  idea  of  harvest  includes  three  things  :  the 
reaping  of  the   corn,  the   gathering  of  it  in,  and  the  threshing  of  it  j 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  4^ 

one  phase  of  a  great  final  visitation  upon  the  apos- 
tate world,  of  which  the  vintage  is  another  phase. — 
Let  us  look  at  it,  then,  a  little  more  particularly. 

"  I  saw,  and  behold  a  white  cloud,''  From  this  we 
may  be  quite  sure  of  what  is  coming.  That  cloud 
is  the  signal  of  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  When  He  ascended,  "a  cloud  received 
him  out  of  their  sight;''  and  at  the  same  time  it 
was  told  from  heaven,  "  This  same  Jesus,  which 
is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come 
in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into 
heaven."  (Acts  1.)  The  cloud  took  Him,  and  the 
cloud  shall  bring  Him.  "  They  shall  see  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  a  clond  with  power  and  great 
glory."  (Luke  21 :  27.)  And  what  was  thus  pre- 
dicted, the  Apocalyptic  seer  here  beholds  fulfilling. 
That  cloud  is  '^  white,"  like  fire  at  its  intensest 
heat,  like  the  lightning  itself,  portending  the 
purest  as  well  as  the  hottest  wrath  towards  the 
powers  which  have  usurped  the  dominion  of  the 
earth. 

"  On  the  cloud  is  seated  one  like  a  Son  of  man,"  N"o 
one  else  is  here  to  be  thought  of  but  our  blessed 
Lord  Jesus.  In  John's  first  vision  he  saw,  in  the 
midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks,  "  One  like  to  a 
Son  of  man  ;"  and  that  One  said,  "  I  am  the  First 
and  the  Last,  and  the  Living  One ;  and  I  became 
dead,  and  behold  I  am  living  for  the  ages  of  the 


whence  it  is  made  a  type  in  Scripture  of  two  direct  opposites  ;  of  de- 
struction, when  the  reaping  and  the  threshing  are  considered  ;  of  resti- 
tution and  salvation  when  the  ingathering  is  considered."  It  is  here 
the  reaping  only. 


42  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ages ;  and  I  have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  hell." 
(Eev.  1 :  17.)  It  was  the  glorified  Son  of  Mary 
there,  and  it  is  the  same  here.  As  the  Destroyer 
of  the  works  of  the  Devil,  and  as  the  Judge  of  the 
quick  and  the  dead,  it  belongs  to  Christ  to  reap 
the  earth  and  to  clear  it  of  the  hellish  seed  of  the 
great  enemy.  The  man  of  sin  is  to  be  destroyed 
only  by  the  manifestation  of  the  Saviour's  presence. 
(2  Thess.  2  :  8.) 

"  Having  on  his  head  a  crown  of  gold.^'  Daniel 
"  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold  one  like  the 
Son  of  man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and 
came  to  the  ancient  of  days,  and  there  was  given 
Him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom.'^  (Dan. 
7  :  13,  14.)  It  was  the  same  Son  of  man,  in  the 
same  cloud,  settled  in  all  the  regal  prerogatives  of 
the  same  supreme  dominion,  and  manifested  for 
the  same  purpose  of  dispossessing  and  destroying 
the  Beast.  The  sitting  of  Christ  on  the  throne  of 
His  glory  is  for  the  judgment  of  the  nations(Matt. 
25  :  31,  32),  and  the  taking  to  Him  of  His  great 
power  as  the  King  is  to  destroy  them  that  cor- 
rupt the  earth,  that  He  may  set  up  in  their  place 
His  own  glorious  dominion.  (Eev.  11 :  17,  19;  19  : 

16.) 

And  to  this  end,  this  heaven-crowned  King 
holds  "  in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle.'^  There  is  no- 
where such  a  description  or  holding  forth  of  the 
instrument  in  any  harvest  scene  referring  to  the 
gracious  home-bringing  of  the  good.  The  earth 
is  to  be  cleared  of  its  ill  products  now,  therefore 
only  a  cutting  implement  is  in  hand,  and  so  con- 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  43 

spicuously  displayed.  The  work  is  one  of  ven- 
geance and  sore  judgment,  therefore  it  is  "  sharp." 
Thus  seated  in  regal  majesty,  with  His  terrible 
instrument  in  hand  for  His  appointed  judicial 
work  as  the  Son  of  man,  there  goes  up  to  Him  a 
mighty  cry  to  send  forth  His  sickle  and  reap, 
claiming  that  the  time  of  the  reaping  has  come, 
and  that  "the  harvest  oi  the  earth  ^^  {not  the  Church) 
is  dried  to  dead  ripeness.  This  cry  is  from  an 
angel,  called  "  another  angel,"  in  allusion  to  those 
mentioned  in  verses  6,  8,  9.  Some  take  it  as  the 
commission  of  the  Father  for  Christ  to  proceed; 
but  that  commission  the  great  Harvester  must 
already  have  had  in  order  to  take  the  position  and 
equipment  in  which  He  here  appears.  It  is  not 
so  much  a  commission  as  a  prayer^  a  plea,  an  ur- 
gency. It  does  not  come  from  the  Father,  but 
from  the  quarter  of  the  afflictions  and  abomina- 
tions calling  for  vengeance.  This  angel  comes 
"  out  of  the  temple  ;" — not  "  the  temple  which  is  in 
heaven,"  as  in  verse  17,  or  it  would  be  so  stated, 
but  "  the  temple  "  as  distinguished  from  "  the 
temple  which  is  in  heaven ;"  hence  the  temple  on 
earth,  referring  either  to  the  material  temple  re- 
built and  reconsecrated,  or  the  spiritual  temple  as 
made  up  of  those  who  keep  the  commandments 
of  God  and  the  faith  of  Jesus,  or  both ;  that  is, 
from  the  very  point  and  place  where  the  Antichrist 
has  enacted  his  greatest  enormities  of  wickedness. 
Abel's  blood  cried  unto  God  from  the  o:round. 
(Gen.  4  :  10.)  The  cry  of  Sodom's  wickedness 
came  up  unto  Jehovah.  (Gen.  28  :  20,  21.)  In  like 


44  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

manner  great  Babylon's  sins  came  up  into  heaven. 
(Rev.  18 :  5.)  And  this  cry  to  the  sitter  on  the 
cloud  comes  out  of  the  earthly  temple  as  the  cry 
of  righteous  indignation  at  the  abominations  that 
are  being  done  against  that  temple  and  its  God, 
attesting  the  over-ripeness  of  the  transgressors, 
and  claiming  the  due  judgment  upon  them,  as  the 
time  has  come. 

The  interests  of  God  on  earth  are  all  more  or 
less  under  the  guardianship  of  angels.  An  angel 
had  charge  of  the  healing  in  Bethesda's  pool,  and 
angels  have  charge  of  God's  temple  too.  The 
Archangel  Michael  presides  over  the  affairs  of  the 
children  of  Daniel's  people,  and  in  the  time  of  the 
Antichrist  it  is  prophesied  that  he  shall  stand  up 
for  them.  (Dan.  12 :  1.)  And  this  angel-cry  from 
the  temple  to  the  crowned,  seated,  and  armed 
King  of  Judgment,  to  send  His  sickle  and  reap, 
is  plainly  connected  with  the  administrations  of 
these  angel-helpers  against  oppression  and  op- 
pressors. It  shows  us  that  when  the  time  of 
judgment  comes  to  the  full,  everything  will  be  in 
a  condition  of  one  grand  outcry  for  speedy  ven- 
geance. Iniquity  will  then  have  come  to  the  full, 
to  a  thorough  drying  out  of  every  modifying  par- 
ticle of  immaturity,  giving  mighty  argument  for 
the  loud  outcry  of  every  holy  being  for  judgment 
to  strike.      ^ 

And  as  the  cry  is,  the  answer  comes.  "  He  that 
sat  oil  the  cloud  cast  his  sickle  (knt)  on,  or  against,  the 
earth,  and  the  earth  was  reaped."  Tremendous 
words !     What  an  experience  for  the  race  of  man 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  45 

is  bound  up  in  their  awful  brevity  !  What  plagues 
descend  with  that  sharp  sickle  !  What  a  cras'n 
comes  with  its  alighting  upon  a  world  now  dead 
ripe  for  final  judgment !  What  powers  and  sys- 
tems fall  before  it !  What  sores  and  ag-onies  it 
brings  to  them  that  bear  the  mark  of  the  Beast 
and  worship  his  image !  What  pestilential  putres- 
cences it  strikes  into  the  sea  whence  that  Beast 
rises,  and  into  the  rivers  and  fountains  whence  his 
subjects  drink  !  What  new^  blazes  of  consuming 
heat  it  gives  to  the  sun  !  What  torment  it  inflicts 
upon  the  throne  of  the  Beast,  and  darkness  and 
anguish  upon  his  kingdom !  What  cries,  and 
thunders,  and  lightnings,  and  earthquakes,  and 
hailstorms,  and  trembling  of  nations,  and  anxie- 
ties of  men,  it  arouses  into  activity!  How  does 
every  upas  growth  give  way  before  the  sharp  edge 
of  that  terrible  sickle !  Just  how  much  of  this 
great  Harvest  pertains  to  the  reaping,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  vintage,  we  are  not  fully  informed ; 
but  it  cuts  from  their  foundations  all  the  main 
sinews  of  the  Antichrist.  It  includes  all  the  dis- 
asters that  come  from  the  pouring  out  of  the  great 
bowls  of  wrath.  It  brings  down  great  Babylon 
with  a  crash  that  fills  the  world  with  lamentations 
and  horror.  It  strips  the  great  Adulteress  of  all 
her  pride  and  queenliness,  and  fills  her  with  tor- 
ment, and  sorrow,  and  burning.  It  sinks  all  the 
riches  and  glories  of  a  godless  world  into  one 
common  ruin,  never  to  be  brought  up  again.  And 
of  the  two  phases  of  those  ministrations  of  the 
wrath  of  God  which  are  to  clear  this  planet  of  the 


46  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

products  and  representatives  of  rebellion  against 
His  Throne,  this  is  one,  and  perhaps  the  most 
general  and  far-reaching  of  the  two.  When  the 
seer  says  "  the  earth  was  reayed^''  he  tells  of  an 
amount  of  cutting  down,  divesture,  and  sorrowful 
sweeping  away  forever  which  the  Scriptures  de- 
scribe as  the  termination  of  the  whole  present 
order  of  things;  for  "  the  Harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world."  (Matt.  13  :  39.)  But  it  is  nevertheless 
only  one  phase  of  the  destruction  which  shall  then 
be  wrought.  After  the  grain-harvest  comes  the 
grape-harvest.     Accordingly  we  have 

n.  The  Vision  of  the  Vintage. 

"  Another  angel  "  appears.  He  is  "  another  " 
as  a  comer  forth  from  the  temple,  and  he  is  an 
''  angel ''  with  reference  to  his  mission,  not  with 
reference  to  his  nature ;  for  this  angel  is  really 
the  same  as  the  Sitter  on  the  white  cloud.  As  to 
office,  Christ  is  often  represented  as  an  angel, 
both  in  this  Book  and  elsewhere.  His  very  name, 
Christ,  or  Messiah,  implies  as  much.  He  is  the 
One  sent  and  appointed  of  the  Father.  In  the 
Old  Testament  He  is  continually  spoken  of  as  the 
Jehovah — angel.  In  chapters  10  and  20  He  ap- 
pears as  an  angel.  And  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  we  must  here  understand  the  Lord  Himself, 
though  in  the  character  of  an  angel.  The  two 
images  of  the  Harvest  and  the  Vintage  are  too 
closely  inter-connected  for  us  to  assign  one  to 
Christ  and  the  other  to  a  created  angel.     The 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  47 

sharp  sickle  in  the  one  is  the  same  as  in  the  other. 
The  work  is  so  great,  and  belongs  so  essentially  to 
the  mission  and  prerogatives  of  Christ,  that  it 
would  trench  upon  the  honor  and  appointment  of 
Him  to  whom  the  Father  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment, to  refer  it  to  a  single  ordinary  angel.  The 
destruction  wrought  is  unquestionably  the  same 
which  is  more  particularly  described  in  the  latter 
part  of  chapter  19;  but  there  it  is  specifically  as- 
signed to  the  Lord  Jesus  himself.  And  so  in 
Isaiah  63,  the  treader  of  the  wine-press,  corres- 
ponding to  the  picture  here  given,  is  none  other 
than  Christ.  We  would  therefore  involve  our- 
selves in  too  many  difficulties,  not  to  admit  that 
this  another  messenger  is  the  same  as  the  Sitter  on 
the  cloud. 

He  comes  "  out  of  the  temple  which  is  in  heaven  ;" 
the  temple  which  is  in  heaven,  as  distinguished 
from  the  temple  which  is  on  earth.  "  The  holy 
places  made  with  hands  are  the  figures  of  the  true," 
fashioned  after  "  the  patterns  of  things  in  the  heav- 
ens." (Heb.  10  :  23,  24.)  It  is  in  the  heavenly 
temple  that  Christ  now  is,  there  appearing  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us,  as  our  great  High  Priest; 
and  out  from  thence  He  is  to  come  when  He  comes 
the  second  time.  (Heb.  10  :  24-28.)  We  have 
here  reached  the  time  appointed  for  the  destroying 
of  them  that  corrupt  the  earth.  Hence  the  great 
commissioned  One  appears.  He  leaves  His  phice 
in  the  temple  which  is  in  heaven,  and  stands  ready, 
with  sharp  sickle  in  hand,  for  the  work  assigned. 

VOL.  III.  61 


48  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Where  he  stands  is  not  said ;  but  the  silence  nat- 
urally carries  us  back  to  the  white  cloud. 

Appearing  with  the  sharp  sickle,  a  great  cry 
goes  up  to  Him  :  "  Send  thy  sharp  sickle  and  gather 
the  clusters  of  the  vine  of  the  earth,  because  her  gropes 
are  fully  ripe.^^  He  who  makes  this  cry  is  an 
angel  who  conies  "  out  of  the  altar, ^^  of  course  the 
earthly  altar,  or  it  would  be  otherwise  stated,  as 
in  the  preceding  verse.  This  angel  is  '*  he  who 
hath  power  over  the  fire."  The  altar-fire  is  the 
fire  of  divine  justice;  the  fire  w^hich  ever  burns 
against  sin  and  sinners;  the  fire  which  spares  no 
victim  however  innocent  when  in  the  place  and 
stead  of  transgressors ;  the  fire  which  ever  cries 
out  with  mighty  voice  for  the  burning  up  of  all 
rebels  against  God's  righteous  authority.  There 
is  a  living  spirit  in  charge  of  it;  and  that  spirit 
calls  for  vengeance  against  the  Antichrist.  The 
grapes  in  this  case  are  the  grapes  of  Sodom, 
"  sour  grapes,"  the  clusters  of  wickedness  ripened 
to  the  full.  Such  iniquities,  blasphemies,  tyrannies 
and  systematic  abominations,  as  the  Antichrist 
develops,  have  no  parallel  on  earth.  In  these  all 
the  depravities  head  up  to  their  maturity.  In 
these  appears  the  consummation  or  final  ripeness 
of  the  whole  earth-growth  and  mystery  of  evil. 
The  angel  of  the  altar-fires  is  never  so  outraged 
as  by  this  perfected  vintage  of  earth's  wickedness. 
Hence  the  loud  and  clamorous  outcry  for  vengeance 
upon  these  clusters.  The  "  grapes  of  gall "  are 
"ripe."  The  time  for  cutting  them  has  come. 
The  Messenger  with  the  sharp  instrument  is  pres- 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  49 

ent.  And  the  spirit  of  the  justice-fires  cries  for 
the  sickle  to  come  in  all  its  whetted  sharpness. 
From  under  that  altar  had  gone  forth  the  plaint 
of  murdered  saints:  '^  Until  when,  Thou  Master, 
holy  and  true,  dost  Thou  not  judge  and  avenge 
our  blood  from  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth." 
(Rev.  6  :  10.)  But  now  the  very  angel  of  the  altar 
adds  his  mighty  voice,  and  there  can  be  no  more 
delay. 

^'  And  the  Angel  cast  His  sickle  into  the  earth,  and 
gathered  the  vine  of  the  earth.''  The  vine  of  the  earth 
is  that  which  stands  over  against  "the  vine  of 
heaven."  The  true  vine  is  Christ,  and  Christians 
are  the  branches.  "  The  vine  of  the  earth  "  is  Anti- 
christ, and  its  branches  are  his  adherents  and  fol- 
lowers. The  saints  are  not  of  the  earth,  but  born 
from  above;  these  are  of  the  earth,  born  from  the 
wisdom  that  is  from  below — the  seed  of  the  Devil's 
sowing — the  children  of  the  wicked  one.  The 
grapes  of  this  vine  of  the  earth  are  the  matured 
children  of  wickedness,  and  "  their  wine  is  the  poi- 
son of  dragons  and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps." 
(Deut.  32  :  32,  33.)  They  have  by  this  time  gone 
as  far  as,  in  the  nature  of  things,  they  can  go. 
They  are  ''ftdlg  ripe.''  Hence  the  sharp  sickle  of 
the  great  judgment  strikes,  and  the  vine  of  the 
earth  is  cut,  and  its  clusters  gathered  into  the  great 
wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God. 

A  more  particular  description  of  this  gathering 
of  the  hosts  of  Antichrist  into  the  wine-press,  and 
the  treading  of  it  by  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord 
of  lords,  is  given  in  the  latter  part  of  chapters  16 


50  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  19.  It  is  in  reality  a  war  scene,  the  gathering 
of  armies,  the  bringing  together  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  whole  world  to  the  battle  of  the 
great  day  of  God  Almighty.  It  is  for  military  pur- 
poses that  they  come,  seduced,  drawn, and  impelled 
by  unclean  spirits  that  issue  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Dragon,  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Beast,  and  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  False  Prophet.  The  region 
of  their  assemblage  is  the  Holy  Land.  The  various 
names  denotive  of  the  locality  all  circle  around 
Jerusalem.  "  Armageddon^'  is  the  place  named  in 
the  Apocalypse,  which  is  the  mount  or  city  of 
Megiddo,  or  the  great  Esdraelon  plain,  ''  the  Val- 
ley of  Megiddo."  That  has  ever  been  one  of  God's 
great  battle-grounds  for  the  judging  of  the  armies 
of  the  wicked.  There  Jabin's  hosts,  with  their 
900  chariots  of  iron,  were  utterly  overwhelmed  by 
Jehovah's  special  interference.  There  the  Midian- 
ites,  and  Amalekites,  and  children  of  the  East 
were  routed  before  Gideon's  300  men  with  pitchers 
and  lamps.  There  Samson  triumphed  with  his 
crude  instrument  over  the  might  of  the  Philistines. 
There  the  ruddy  son  of  Jesse  met  and  slew  the 
great  Goliath,  and  opened  a  breach  of  destruction 
upon  those  who  defied  Israel's  God.  And  it  is  but 
fitting  that  here  should  be  the  seat  of  the  wine- 
press for  the  final  crushing  out  of  the  mightier 
Jabin  and  Goliath  of  the  last  evil  days.  "  The  Val- 
ley of  Jehosaphai"  is  named  by  Joel  as  the  place 
which,  geographically  taken,  denotes  the  immedi- 
ate vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  or  else  that  part  of  Idu- 
mea  where,  by  the  special  aid  of  heaven,  Jehosa- 


LECTURE  XXXV.  CHAP.  14  .  14  -  16.     5^ 

phat  put  down  the  rebellion  of  the  Edomites. 
^'  Bozrah"  is  named  by  Isaiah  as  the  place  where 
the  mighty  Saviour  treads  the  wine-press  alone, 
and  stains  all  His  raiment  with  the  blood  of  His 
foes.  (Is.  34 :  6-8 ;  63  : 1-6.)  The  probabilities  are 
that  all  these  particular  localities  are  included, 
and  that  a  line  of  encamped  forces  shall  extend 
from  Bozrah,  on  the  southeast,  to  Megiddo,on  the 
northwest.  And,  singularly  enough,  this  would 
measure  exactly  1600  stadia,  the  distance  named 
in  the  text  as  that  over  which  the  blood  from 
this  great  wine-press  of  Jehovah's  anger  flows. 
The  same  would  also  best  realize  Habakkuk's 
vision  of  the  same  scene,  where  he  beheld,  and 
"  God  came  from  Teynan,  and  the  Holy  One  from 
Mount  Paran.  His  glory  covered  the  heavens,  and 
the  earth  was  full  of  His  praise.  His  brightness 
was  as  the  light;  He  had  horns  coming  out  of 
his  hand ;  and  there  was  the  hiding  of  His  power. 
Before  him  went  the  pestilence,  and  burning  coals 
went  forth  at  his  feet.  He  stood  and  measured  the 
earth  :  He  beheld,  and  drove  asunder  the  nations; 
and  the  everlasting  mountains  were  scattered,  the 
perpetual  hills  did  bow.  Thou  didst  march  through 
the  land  in  indignation ;  thou  didst  thresh  the  hea- 
then in  anger.  Thou  wentest  forth  for  the  salvation 
of  thy  people,  even  for  salvation  with  thine  an- 
ointed ;  Thou  woundest  the  head  out  of  the  house 
of  the  wicked,  by  discovering  the  foundation  unto 
the  neck."   (Hab.  3  :  3-16.)  ^ 

The  march  of  the  terrific  indignation  of  God  on 
this  occasion  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  from 


52  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  Sinaitic  hills,  crashing  through  Idumea,  thun- 
dering by  the  walls  of  the  holy  city,  and  thence 
on  to  the  great  field  of  Esdraelon,  where  the  chief 
stress  of  the  awful  pressure  falls.  Along  this  line 
will  the  main  bodies  of  these  assembled  nations 
lie,  eager,  determined,  and  confident  in  the 
schemes  that  occupy  them,  not  knowing  that  they 
are  already  in  the  great  wine-press  of  the  wrath 
of  God.  ''  Multitudes,  multitudes,"  armies  on 
armies,  hosts  on  hosts,  are  there.  The  Beast  is 
there ;  the  False  Prophet  is  there;  and  the  kings, 
captains,  mighty  men,  and  drilled  legions  of  all 
the  nations  in  league  with  Antichrist  are  there ; 
all  gathered  into  one  great  pen  of  slaughter. 

"  Arid  the  wine-press  was  trodden.'^  What  strength 
have  grapes  against  the  weight  and  power  of  a 
man  when  he  comes  to  set  his  feet  upon  them  ? 
And  the  riper  they  are,  the  more  helpless.  They 
must  needs  be  crushed,  their  existence  destroyed, 
their  life-blood  poured  out.  And  so  with  these 
"fully  ripe"  clusters,  now  gathered  into  the  great 
wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God.  E'o  weapon  they 
can  raise,  no  resistance  they  can  make,  can  avail 
them.  The  beast  was  hailed  as  the  Invincible; 
but  his  invincibility  is  nothing  now.  The  False 
Prophet  could  make  fire  come  down  from  heaven 
in  the  presence  of  men,  but  he  can  command  no 
fires  to  withstand  the  lightnings  of  the  angry  and 
inexorable  Judge.  The  heel  of  Omnipotence  is 
upon  them;  and  they  can  only  break  and  sink  be- 
neath it. 

Long  ago  had  Jehovah  spoken  of  this  time  and 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14  :  14-16.  53 

said:  "Let  the  earth  hear, and  all  that  is  therein; 
the  world,  and  all  things  that  come  forth  of  it. 
For  the  indignation  of  the  Lord  is  upon  all  na- 
tions, and  His  fury  upon  all  their  armies;  He  hath 
utterly  destroyed  them.  He  hath  delivered  them 
to  the  slaughter.  Their  slain  also  shall  be  cast 
out,  and  their  stink  shall  come  up  out  of  their  car- 
cases, and  the  mountains  shall  be  melted  with  their 
blood.  And  all  the  host  of  heaven  shall  be  loosed, 
and  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll ; 
and  all  their  host  shall  fall  down,  as  the  leaf  falleth 
oft'  from  the  vine,  and  as  a  fallen  fig  from  the  fig- 
tree.  For  my  sword  shall  be  bathed  in  heaven : 
behold,  it  shall  come  down  upon  Idumea,  and 
upon  the  people  of  my  curse  to  judgment.  For  it 
is  the  day  of  the  Lord's  vengeance,  and  the  year 
of  recompenses  for  the  controversy  of  Zion."  (Is. 
34 : 1-8.)  But  men  would  not  hear,  neither  be- 
lieve; therefore,  the  sword  of  the  Lord  is  filled 
with  their  blood.  He  cometh  from  Edom,  with 
dyed  garments  from  Bozrah,  treading  the  wine- 
press alone,  treading  them  down  in  His  anger, 
trampling  them  in  His  fury,  and  staining  all  His 
raiment  with  their  blood.  "  When  they  say.  Peace 
and  safety,  then  sudden  destruction  cometh  upon 
them,  and  they  cannot  escape." 

It  is  "  outside  of  the  city  "  that  this  treading  of 
the  wine-press  takes  place.  "The  city,"  men- 
tioned thus  absolutely,  with  no  other  note  of  iden- 
tification, can  be  none  other  than  "  the  holy  city ^''^  the 
city  of  Jerusalem.  The  fact  that  this  great  judg- 
ment does  not  come  within  its  gates,  is  evidence 


54 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


of  its  being  "  the  holy  city,"  the  place  owued  of 
God,  the  memorial  of  His  salvation  in  the  time 
of  His  fierce  anger.  Amid  all  the  consuming 
wrath,  the  judgment  stays  outside  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem.  Within  its  holy  inclosure  is  safety. 
And  by  some  gracious  interposition  of  Heaven, 
none  of  the  doomed  hosts  of  Antichrist  are  at  this 
time  inside  of  it.  Has  it  become  the  possession 
of  the  144,000  whom  we  saw  on  Mount  Zion  ?  Has 
the  Lamb  by  this  time  cleansed  it  with  judgment 
as  in  Ezekiel's  vision  (chapter  9)  ?  Hath  He 
already  consecrated  and  appropriated  it  as  the 
intended  metropolis  of  the  new  kingdom?  Has 
His  wonder-working  power  come  forth  in  such 
force  in  connection  with  the  glorification  of  the 
144,000,  as  then  already  to  have  started  there  an 
administration  expelling  the  dominion  of  the 
Beast  ?  Joel  says,  Jehovah  shall  then  utter  His 
voice  with  power  from  Jerusalem.  (Joel  3  :  17.) 
Has  it  not  then  already  become  the  seat  of  His 
throne  ?  If  so,  this  would  explain  why  all  these 
armies  of  the  nations  are  there.  Even  apart  from 
this,  the  implication  is  clear  that  these  forces  are 
gathered  for  war  against  the  holy  city,  and  against 
the  Lamb.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  things  there 
would  be  nothing  in  Jerusalem  requiring  or  occa- 
sioning such  a  tremendous  gathering  of  the  kings 
and  armies  of  the  world.  If,  however,  some  vis- 
ible presence  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  about  to 
take  possession  of  the  earth  has  there  begun  to 
display  and  assert  itself;  if  divine  majesty,  mir- 
acle and  power  have  by  this  time  taken  hold,  in- 


LECTURE   XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  55 

troducing  a  new  rule  and  order,  exhibiting  the 
presence  of  the  eternal  reign  of  the  Son  of  man, 
and  manifesting  the  potencies  of  the  world  to  come ; 
there  is  ample  call  and  occasion  for  this  mustering 
of  all  the  powers  of  earth  and  hell.  Determined 
to  crush  it  out,  "  the  kings  of  the  earth  set  them- 
selves, and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together, 
against  the  Lord,  and  against  His  anointed/'  (Ps. 
2:2.)  A  power  which  could  thus  cleanse  and 
clear  the  temple  and  city  of  everything  contrary 
to  God,  and  hold  at  bay  all  attempts  of  the  un- 
sanctified  to  enter,  would  be  a  thing  wholly  intol- 
erable to  Antichrist.  He  who  claims  to  be  the 
only  rightful  object  of  human  adoration,  could  not 
endure  the  presence  of  such  temerity  against  his 
majesty.  If  strength  in  earth  and  hell  exists  to 
subdue  and  crush  it,  that  strength  must  be  called 
forth.  And  thus  these  kings  and  nations,  with 
their  armies,  are  convened.  It  is  meant  to  make 
sure  of  success.  They  fill  the  land  with  their 
collected  forces.  They  mass  themselves  in  line 
from  Bozrah  to  Megiddo.  They  compass  about 
the  holy  city.  But  into  it  they  dare  not  enter. 
And  when  the  wine-press  of  their  destruction  is 
trodden,  it  is  "  trodden  outside  of  the  city.^^  Before 
they  are  able  to  strike  a  blow,  "  the  Lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah  "  is  upon  them  in  all  the  terrible- 
ness  of  His  great  exterminating  judgment. 

"  And  blood  came  forth  out  of  the  wine-press  up  to 
the  bits  of  the  horses  for  a  distance  of  1600  stadia!'^ 
A  river  of  human  blood  160  miles  in  length,  and 
up  to  the  bridles  of  the  horses  in  depth,  tells  an 


56  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

awful  story.  When  the  Eomans  destroyed  Jeru- 
salem so  great  was  the  bloodshed  that  Josephus 
says  the  whole  city  ran  down  with  the  blood  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  fires  of  many  of  the  houses 
were  quenched  by  it.  When  Sylla  took  Athens, 
Plutarch  says  the  blood  that  was  shed  in  the 
market-place  alone  covered  all  the  ceramicus  as 
far  as  Dipylus,  and  some  testify  that  it  ran  through 
the  gates  and  overflowed  the  suburbs.  ISTor  are 
we  to  think  of  any  exaggeration  or  hyperbole 
in  the  very  definite  description  of  what  John  here 
saw  as  the  consequence  of  the  treading  of  this 
wine-press.  It  is  "  the  great  wine-jpress  of  the  wrath 
of  God.^'  It  is  the  last  great  consummate  act  of 
destruction  which  is  to  end  this  present  world. 
The  masses  on  whom  it  is  executed  are  "  the 
kings  of  the  earth  and  of  the  whole  world,  and 
their  armies  "  (Rev.  16  :  14;  19  :  19),  stationed  in 
a  line  from  Bozrah  in  Edom  to  Esdraelon  in 
Galilee.  They  are  to  be  utterly  consumed,  so  as 
to  "  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch. '^  (Mai. 
4  : 1.)  It  is  ''  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the 
Lord"  about  which  all  the  prophets  of  all  the 
ages  have  prophesied.  It  is  the  result  of  the  re- 
sentment and  anger  of  Him  who  is  Faithful  and 
True,  who  in  righteousness  doth  judge  and  make 
war,  whose  eyes  are  as  fire,  on  whose  head  are  the 
many  crowns,  whom  all  the  armies  of  Heaven  fol- 
low upon  white  horses,  out  of  w^hose  mouth  goeth 
a  sharp  sword,  and  who  "  treadeth  the  wine-press 
of  the  fierceness  and  wrath  of  Almighty  God." 
And  it  must  needs  be  all  that  John  here  states,  a 


LECTURE    XXXV.    CHAP.    14:14-16.  57 

belt  of  blood  from  Bozrah  to  Esdraelon  up  to  the 
horses'  bridles  in  depth  !  Isaiah  says  :  "  The  land 
shall  be  drunk  with  blood,  and  its  dust  made  fat 
with  fatness,  for  it  is  the  day  of  Jehovah's  ven- 
geance, tlie  year  of  recompenses  for  the  contro- 
versy against  Zion."  (Is.  34  :  7,  8.) 

Ah,  yes;  men  in  their  unbelief  may  laugh  at 
the  Almighty's  threatenings.  Because  sentence 
against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily, 
their  hearts  may  be  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil. 
And  the  proud  rationalism  of  many  may  persuade 
them  that  God  is  too  good  and  merciful  ever  to 
fulfil  in  any  literal  sense  these  sanguinary  commi- 
nutions. But  it  will  be  no  laughing  matter  then, 
no  mystic  fancy,  no  meaningless  orientalism  of  the 
age  of  extravagant  speech.  God  hath  set  His  own 
eternal  seal  to  it,  and  said :  "  Seek  ye  out  of  the 
Book  of  the  Lord,  and  read :  no  one  of  these 
things  shall  fail."  (Is.  34  :  16.)  And  yet  people 
make  light  of  it,  and  turn  away  to  their  sins  and 
follies  as  if  it  were  all  nothing ! 

Child  of  Adam,  hear,  and  be  admonished  now 
while  salvation  is  so  freely  offered.  Be  not  de- 
ceived, for  God  is  not  mocked.  Those  impieties 
of  thine,  those  guilty  sports  and  gayeties,  will  yet 
have  to  be  confronted  before  the  judgment  seat. 
Those  gatherings  in  the  gaming-hells  and  drink- 
shops  of  Satan,  those  sneers  and  witty  jests  at 
sacred  things,  those  fiery  lusts  burning  on  the 
altars  of  carnal  pleasure,  are  all  written  down  in 
the  account-books  of  eternity  to  be  brought  forth 
in  the  great  day.     That  wicked  profanation  of  thy 


58 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Maker's  name,  that  broken  pledge,  that  unfulfilled 
vow  to  God  and  man,  that  scene  of  riot,  that  hid- 
den going  to  the  haunts  of  the  profligate,  all  are 
noted  for  future  settlement.  The  blood  of 
wronged  and  murdered  innocence  will  not  always 
cry  in  vain.  The  wail  of  trampled  helplessness 
will  not  be  unheard  forever.  The  mother  who 
destroyed  her  babe,  the  clerk  who  dipped  too  deep 
in  his  employer's  till,  the  enemy  who  set  fire  to 
his  neighbor's  goods  or  sought  to  blacken  his  good 
name,  the  boy  who  cursed  his  parents  in  secret, 
the  spiteful  slanderer  and  persecutor  of  God's 
ministers  and  people,  and  every  despiser  and 
neglecter  of  the  great  salvation,  must  each  answer 
at  the  tribunal  of  eternal  justice.  And  if  clean 
repentance  out  of  these  and  all  such  sins  be  not 
speedy  and  complete,  there  is  no  hope  or  mercy 
more.  Before  us  stands  the  Angel  with  the  sharp 
sickle  for  all  the  enemies  of  God,  and  beside  Him 
is  the  great  wine-press  of  destruction.  Think,  O 
man,  O  woman,  how  would  you  fare  were  He  this 
night  to  strike  !  If  not  in  the  city,  in  reconciliation 
with  the  King,  outside  is  only  death  and  damna- 
tion, and  nothing  can  make  it  different. 


LECTURE  THIRTY-SIXTH. 

THE  SIGN  OF  THE  SEVEN  LAST  PLAGUES — THE  VISION  OF  THE 
SEA  OF  GLASS  MINGLED  WITH  FIRE  —  THE  HARP-SINGEKS 
STANDING  BY  IT — THE  SEVEN  PRIEST-ANGELS — THE  GOLDEN 
BOWLS — NOT  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION — THE  PLAGUE  OF 
SORES — THE  PLAGUE  OF  THE  BLOODY  SEA — THE  PLAGUE  OF 
THE  BLOODY  RIVERS  AND  WATER-SPRINGS — THE  PLAGUE  OF 
SUN-HEAT  —  THE  PLAGUE  OF  DARKNESS  —  NO  PENITENCE 
FROM  THESE  JUDGMENTS. 


Rev.  15  :  1-8.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  another  sign  in  the  heaven 
great  and  marvellous,  seven  angels  having  seven  plagues,  the  last,  be- 
cause in  them,  the  wrath  of  God  was  completed. 

And  I  saw  like  to  a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  and  those  who 
conquer  from  the  beast,  and  from  his  image,  and  from  the  number  of 
his  name,  standing  on  [over  or  by]  the  sea  of  glass,  having  harps  of 
God.  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses,  servant  of  God,  and  the  song 
of  the  Lamb,  saying,  Great  and  marvellous  thy  works,  0  Lord  God,  the 
Almighty,  just  and  true  thy  ways,  Thou  the  King  of  the  nations:  who 
shall  not  fear,  0  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  namf  ?  because  alone  holy,  be- 
cause  all  the  nations  shall  come  and  worship  in  thy  presence,  because 
thy  judgments  [righteous  doings]  have  been  made  manifest. 

And  after  these  things  I  saw,  and  there  was  opened  the  temple  of 
the  tabernacle  of  the  testimony  in  the  heaven  ;  and  there  came  forth 
the  seven  angels  who  had  the  seven  plagues  out  of  the  temple,  clothed  in 
pure  bright  linen,  and  girdled  about  their  breasts  with  golden  girdles. 
And  one  from  among  the  four  Living  Ones  gave  to  the  seven  angels  seven 
golden  bowls  full  of  the  wrath  of  God,  who  liveth  to  the  ages  of  the 
ages.  And  the  temple  was  filled  with  the  smoke  from  the  glory  of  God. 
and  from  his  power;  and  no  one  could  enter  into  the  temple  until  the 
seven  plagues  of  the  seven  angels  were  completed. 

Rev.  16  : 1-11.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  heard  a  great  v»ice  saying 
to  the  seven  angels,  Go  and  pour  out  the  seven  bowls  of  the  wrath  of 
God  into  the  earth. 

(59) 


go  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

And  the  first  went  forth,  and  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  earth ; 
and  there  became  a  noisome  and  grievous  sore  upon  the  men  who  had 
the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  those  who  worshipped  his  image. 

And  the  second  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  sea  ;  and  it  became 
blood  as  of  one  dead,  and  the  things  in  the  sea,  and  every  soul  of  life, 
died. 

And  the  third  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  rivers  and  the  fountains 
of  waters ;  and  they  became  blood.  And  I  heard  the  angels  of  the 
waters  saying,  Righteous  art  thou,  who  art,  and  who  wast,  holy  One, 
because  thou  hast  judged  thus  :  because  they  have  shed  blood  of  saints 
and  prophets,  and  thou  hast  given  them  blood  to  drink;  deserving  are 
they.  And  I  heard  the  altar  saying.  Yea,  Lord  God  t^e  Almighty, 
true  and  just  are  thy  judgments. 

And  the  fourth  poured  out  his  bowl  on  [or  over]  the  sun ;  and  it  was 
given  to  it  to  scorch  men  with  fire.  And  the  men  were  scorched  with 
great  scorching,  and  they  blasphemed  the  name  of  the  God,  he  who 
hath  authority  over  these  plagues  ;  and  they  repented  not  to  give  glory 
to  him. 

And  the  fifth  poured  out  his  bowl  on  [or  over]  the  throne  of  the  beast  ; 
and  his  kingdom  became  darkened,  and  they  bit  their  tongues  from 
the  pain,  and  they  blasphemed  the  God  of  the  heaven  from  their  pain, 
and  from  their  sores,  and  repented  not  out  of  their  deeds. 

THE  accomplishment  of  the  Harvest  and  the 
Vintage  brings  to  the  end  of  this  present 
world.  The  next  in  succession  would  be  the  set- 
ting up  of  the  eternal  Kingdom,  and  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  new  heavens  and  earth.  But  the 
Harvest  and  the  Vintage  do  not  adequately  set 
forth  all  that  we  need  to  know  about  these  closing 
scenes.  Further  particulars  included  in  this  mo- 
mentous period  require  to  be  shown  in  order  to 
complete  the  picture.  The  fate  of  the  infernal 
Trinity, — the  Dragon,  the  Beast,  and  the  False 
Prophet, — and  of  what  pertains  to  them,  is  to 
be  more  fully  described  before  we  come  to  the 
Millennium,  the  descent  of  the  ITew  Jerusalem, 
and  the  planting  of  God's  Tabernacle  with  men. 


LECTURE    XXXVI.     CHAPS.    15:1-8;   16:1-11.      gj 

Hence  the  same  ground  covered  by  the  visions  of 
the  Harvest  and  Vintage  is  traversed  again  and 
again  with  reference  to  particular  objects  and  ad- 
ministrations. As  we  have  four  distinct  Gospels 
to  give  us  a  full  and  accurate  portraiture  of  the 
one  glorious  Saviour,  so  we  have  these  several 
presentations  with  reference  to  one  and  the  same 
momentous  period  of  the  end.  Each  vision,  how- 
ever, has  its  own  particular  office,  scope,  and 
features,  giving  some  special  aspect  or  phase  in 
the  general  sum  of  events.  It  is  not  mere  repeti- 
tion of  the  same  thing,  but  the  separate  presenta- 
tion of  particular  administrations  or  occurrences 
of  which  the  whole  is  made  up. 

Chapters  15  and  16  belong  together.  They  form 
one  whole,  touching  one  important  subject,  to  wit: 
the  third  or  last  woe.  The  contents  bear  a  close 
analogy  to  the  conclusion  of  chapter  11,  if  they 
be  not  indeed  the  continuation  and  amplification 
of  what  was  there  summarily  introduced;  for  all 
these  visions  are  very  intimately  related,  both  in 
general  subject  and  time.  There  the  temple  in 
heaven  was  opened,  and  lightnings,  voices,  thun- 
ders, earthquake,  and  great  hail  followed.  Here 
the  same  temple  is  opened,  and  out  of  it  issue 
seven  angels,  with  the  seven  last  plagues,  who 
empty  their  bowls  of  the  wrath  of  God  in  calam- 
ities upon  the  wicked  world,  culminating  in  the 
very  things  named  as  the  result  of  the  opening 
there.  There  the  Elders  said  that  the  nations 
were  enraged,  that  God's  wrath  had  come,  and 
that  the  time  to   destroy  them   that  corrupt  the 


62  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

earth  had  been  reached.  Here  we  are  shown  the 
pouring  out  of  that  wrath,  its  particular  instru- 
ments, subjects,  operations,  and  results. 

John  begius  by  telling  of  "another  sign  in  the 
heaven."  In  chapter  12  he  told  of  two  signs:  the 
sign  of  the  sun-clad  Woman,  and  the  sign  of  the 
great  Red  Dragon.  It  is  with  reference  to  them 
that  he  calls  this  "  another  sign."  Three  signs  were 
given  to  Moses,  Gideon,  Saul,  and  Elijah.  Three 
feigns  are  mentioned  in  Matthew  24  as  heralding 
the  Lord's  coming, — the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man 
in  heaven,  the  putting  forth  of  leaves  by  the 
withered  fig-tree,  and  the  lapse  of  the  world  into 
the  condition  in  which  it  was  at  the  time  of  the 
flood.  And  so  we  have  here  three  signs.  The 
signs  of  the  Woman  and  the  Dragon,  answer  to 
the  first  and  second  chapters  of  Exodus ;  the  sign 
now  before  us,  answers  to  the  judgments  which 
followed,  through  the  ministry  of  Moses  and 
Aaron. 

This  sign  is  "great  and  marvellous."  It  is  great, 
as  involving  so  much  more  in  range  and  intensity 
than  anything  of  the  kind  that  has  ever  been ;  and 
it  is  marvellous,  with  reference  to  the  unparalleled 
character  of  what  it  foretells.  What  it  describes 
is  altogether  extraordinary,  and  on  an  astounding 
scale.  It  is  the  consummation  of  marvels  in  this 
present  world.  The  sign  itself  is,  "  Seven  Angels 
having  seven  plagues,  the  last  ones,  because  in 
them  the  wrath  of  God  was  completed."  Signs 
of  healing  accompanied  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel;   signs  of  death    attend    the   end  of   the 


LECTURE    XXXVI.    CHAPS.    15:1-8;   16:1-11.       (^3 

world.  Much  of  the  Apocalypse  treats  of  plagues 
— "  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book/' 
Those  here  signified  are  ^'  the  last,''  with  reference 
to  what  happened  to  Egypt,  or  with  reference  to 
the  judgments  under  the  Seals  and  Trumpets,  or 
simply  with  reference  to  the  particular  end  of 
things  which  they  are  to  work.  They  are  visita- 
tions upon  the  living  world — upon  men  in  the 
flesh.  They  have  been  named  "  the  opening  artil- 
lery of  God,  ere  the  shock  of  battle  comes.''  The 
seven  Angels  who  bear  them  have  been  likened 
to  priests  of  heaven,  pouring  out  the  drink-offer- 
ings of  wine  over  the  sacrifice  ere  it  is  slain  and 
consumed. 

But  before  proceeding  to  give  the  particulars  of 
this  great  and  marvellous  "  sign,"  the  Seer  inter- 
jects another  vision,  of  a  more  gracious  order, 
though  connected  with  these  outpourings  of  the 
plagues.  When  the  wicked  are  cut  off,  the  right- 
eous shall  see  it;  and  when  these  plagues  fall  upon 
Antichrist  and  his  hosts,  those  who  through  suf- 
fering and  death  keep  clear  of  his  worship  and 
mark,  are  on  high,  singing,  and  harping,  and  giving 
glory  to  God  and  the  Lamb,  as  stroke  upon  stroke 
from  the  heavenly  temple  smites  their  oppressors. 
John  writes:  "  I  saw  like  to  a  sea  of  glass  mingled 
with  fire,  and*  those  who  conquer  out  from  the  Beast, 
and  from  his  image,  and  from  the  number  of  his  name, 
standing  on,  over,  or  by  the  sea  of  glass,  having  harps 
of  God.'' 

This  likeness  to  a  sea  of  glass  reminds  of  that 
"  glassy  sea  "  which  spread  out  before  the  throne 
VOL.  III.  62 


64  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ill  chapter  4.*  If  it  is  the  same,  it  has  become  omi- 
nously commingled  now;  for  there  it  was  "like 
unto  crystal  "  in  clearness,  but  here  it  is  "  mingled 
with  fire/'  There  it  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  the 
economy  and  pavement  of  the  heaven ;  here  it 
appears  rather  as  a  mighty  reservoir  of  just  judg- 
ments about  to  be  precipitated  upon  the  world 
below.  There  it  looked  like  a  sort  of  base  on 
which  the  whole  celestial  establishment  rested, 
representing  perhaps  the  purity,  vastness,  and 
strength  of  God's  counsels,  on  which  all  things 
depend;  here  it  does  not  seem  to  be  the  support 
of  anything,  though  the  victors  named  may  be 
over,  by,  or  even  on  it.  It  is  probably  meant  to 
symbolize  the  vastness,  purity,  justice  and  severity 
of  the  divine  counsels  in  those  retributions  about 
to  fall  upon  the  wicked.  It  is  best  taken  as  a  sea 
of  just  judgments  which  are  poured  forth  in  the 
seven  final  plagues,  whilst  in  that  regard  at  the 
same  time  a  sea  of  blessed  vindication  and  joy  to 
those  faithful  ones  whom  the  Beast  persecuted 
unto  death. 

The  picture  of  these  victorious  ones  standing  on 
the  shore  of  this  sea,  holding  harps  of  God,  and 
singing  the  song  of  Moses,  directly  recalls  the 
rescued  and  victorious  children  of  Israel  on  the 
further  side  of  the  Eed  Sea,  beholding  the  dis- 
comfiture of  their  foes,  and  singing  and  rejoicing 
in  the  mighty  accomplishments  of  the  wonder- 
working Jehovah.  "  Then  sang  Moses  and  the 
children  of  Israel  this  song  unto  the  Lord,  and 

*  Volume  I,  pp.  247,  248. 


LECTURE    XXXVI.    CHAPS.     15:1-8;  16:1-11.       65 

spake,  saying,  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He 
hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the  horse  and  his  rider 
hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea.  Who  is  like  unto 
Thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods,  who  is  like  Thee, 
glorious  in  holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing 
wonders  ?  "  (Ex.  15  :  1-11.)  And  here  the  victors 
sing  the  song  of  Moses  over  again,  looking  out 
upon  another  sea  of  judgment  as  its  fiery  waves 
dash  upon  their  oppressors.  Here,  however,  the 
song  goes  beyond  that  of  Moses,  and  takes  in  that 
of  the  Lamb  as  well,  which  is  the  song  of  victory 
over  sin  and  death,  the  song  of  justification  and 
eternal  life  through  the  blood  and  triumph  of 
Jesus,  whose  dominion  and  right  as  the  Lord  of 
the  nations  are  attested  by  these  mighty  judg- 
ments. Of  old  it  was  prophesied,  that,  when  "  the 
king  "  for  whom  Tophet  is  ordained  and  prepared 
is  smitten,  the  victory  over  him  shall  be  celebrated 
"with  tabrets  and  harps"  (Is.  30  :  32,  33) ;  and 
here  John  beholds  the  fulfilment.  They  stand  by 
the  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  having  harps 
of  God,  and  they  sing,  saying,  "  Great  and  mar- 
vellous are  Thy  works,  0  Lord  God,  the  Almighty, 
just  and  true  are  Thy  ways.  Thou,  the  King  of  the 
nations  !  Who  shall  not  fear,  0  Lord,  and  glorify 
Thy  name,  alone  holy?  because  all  the  nations 
shall  come  and  worship  in  Thy  presence,  because 
Thy  judgments  have  been  made  manifest !"  When 
consuming  wrath  falls  on  the  servants  of  the  false 
god,  the  true  God's  worshippers  are  beyond  the  fiery 
sea,  singing  their  adoration  to  their  Deliverer.  Hav- 
ing felt  the  Dragon's  wrath,  they  are  joyously  free 


gg  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  secure  from  the  great  wrath  of  God.  And  their 
outlook  is  one  of  abiding  blessedness.  Verily, 
there  is  nothing  like  being  firm  and  true  to  what 
is  right.  Whatever  it  may  cost  for  the  time,  it  will 
be  amply  recompensed  in  the  great  day. 

With  this  statement  concerning  those  whom 
the  Beast  and  False  Prophet  cannot  conquer,  the 
holy  Apostle  proceeds  with  what  he  began  to  tell 
about  as  "another  sign  in  the  heaven"  —  the 
seven  last  plagues.  He  first  describes  the  heav- 
enly economy  of  them,  and  then  the  execution  of 
them,  together  with  their  several  eflfects.  Let  us 
follow  him  reverently. 

He  saw  "  the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testi- 
mony in  heaven  opened,^*  This  was  the  innermost 
part  of  the  temple,  the  Temple  of  the  temple,  the 
Holy  of  holies,  the  deepest  centre  of  the  dwelling- 
place  and  throne  of  God. 

The  tables  of  stone,  inscribed  with  the  precepts 
of  the  Law,  which  God  gave  to  Moses,  are  called 
the  "tables  of  testimony."  These  were  com- 
manded to  be  put  into  the  holy  Ark,  which  thence 
was  called  "  the  Ark  of  the  testimony."  This  Ark 
had  its  place  in  the  innermost  and  holiest  de- 
partment of  the  Tabernacle,  which  thus  became 
the  particular  tent  or  "  tabernacle  of  the  testi- 
mony." And  this  innermost  shrine  of  the  tem- 
ple in  heaven,  John  saw  open,  revealing,  as  stated, 
in  chapter  11 :  19,  the  very  ark  itself,  and  indicating 
that  all  the  hidden  powers  of  eternity  were  nov.' 
about  to  show  themselves  in  active  earthward 
administrations. 


LECTURE    XXXVI.    CHAPS.    15:1-8,16:1-11.      67 

From  the  depth  of  tliis  holiness  issued  seven 
angels.  They  are  priest-angels,  for  they  are  clothed 
in  pure  bright  linen,  and  girded  about  their 
breasts  with  golden  girdles,  which  is  the  priest's 
dress.  They  appear  as  priests,  because  they  come 
for  the  sacrificing  of  a  great  sacrifice  to  the  of- 
fended holiness  and  justice  of  God.  The  girdle  of 
the  Jewish  high  priest  w^as  a  mixture  of  blue, 
and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine-twined  linen, 
along  with  the  "gold'' (Lev.  16:4);  the  girdles 
here  are  pure  gold;  for  the  temple  is  higher,  and 
the  administration  holier;  and  the  officiators  be- 
long to  heaven,  not  earth. 

^' Aiid  one  from  among  the  four  Living  Ones  gave 
to  the  seven  angels  seven  golden  bowls  full  of  the  lorath 
of  God.''  This  is  not  the  first  time  we  hear  of 
these  Living  Ones  taking  part  in  the  actual  admin- 
istration of  judgment.  They  are  indeed  glorified 
men  ;*  but  *'  do  ye  not  know  that  the  saints  shall 
judge  the  world?"  (1  Cor.  6:2,  3.)  When  th^ 
horsemen  of  chapter  6  were  sent  forth,  "  one  from 
among  the  four  Living  Ones  "  gave  the  command, 
as  with  a  voice  of  thunder.  Here  a  correspond- 
ing part  of  the  same  judgment  work  is  to  be  exe- 
cuted, and  the  vessels  containing  the  w^rath  of  God 
are  handed  out  by  one  of  the  same  Living  Ones. 
The  vessels  themselves  were  not  bottles,  as  our 
English  version  would  intimate,  but  shallow,  pan. 
like,  golden  bowls,  or  censers,  such  as  were  used 
in  the  temple  to  hold  the  fire  when  incense  was 


*  See  vol.  i,  pp.  254-262. 


68 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


burned.  They  are  priestly  censers,  as  in  chapter 
8  :  5.  That  which  gives  vitality  to  the  prayers  of 
saints  and  sustains  the  Jehovah  worship,  at  the 
same  time  carries  the  burning  coals  of  judgment 
upon  the  wicked.  That  which  seethes  and  smokes 
in  these  holy  censers  is  God's  punishment  upon 
transgression,  the  consuming  intolerance  of  His 
holiness  toward  sin  and  sinners.  Seven  of  these 
bowls,  full  to  the  brim  with  the  wrath  of  Him  who 
liveth  for  the  ages  of  the  ages,  are  thus  handed  to 
the  seven  priest-angels  to  be  poured  upon  the 
sacrifice  preparatory  to  its  final  consumption. 
And  terrible  is  the  smoke  of  their  burning. 

When  the  first  tabernacle  was  dedicated,  a  cloud 
filled  it,  and  Moses  was  not  able  to  enter  into  it 
because  of  the  cloud  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  (Ex. 
40  :  34,  35.)  When  Solomon's  temple  was  dedi- 
cated the  cloud  of  the  divine  glory  so  filled  the 
house  that  the  priests  could  not  stand  to  minister 
because  of  it.  (1  Kings  8  :  10,  11.)  It  was  a  cloud 
then,  veiling  the  insufierable  brightness  of  that 
Jehovah-presence  which  it  indicated;  but  here  is 
the  day  of  the  fierceness  of  divine  wrath,  and  in 
place  of  the  shadowing  cloud  is  the  lurid  fiery 
smoke; — the  same  which  lasiah  saw  (6:1-4)  in 
his  vision  of  the  enthroned  Jehovah.  It  fills  the 
temple  in  heaven ;  and  so  intense  is  the  manifes- 
tation of  the  divine  glory  and  power  that  no  one, 
even  of  the  sons  of  God,  is  able  to  enter  until  the 
filled  censers  have  been  quite  emptied  out  upon 
the  doomed  world.  And  from  the  midst  of  these 
awful  signs  a  great  voice  sounds,  like  the  trumpet 


LECTURE    XXXVI.    CHAPS.    15:1-8,   16:1-11.      ^9 

sounding  from  the  smoke  and  fire  on  Mount  Si- 
nai, saying  to  the  seven  angels,  "  Go,  and  pour  out 
the  seven  bowls  of  the  wraili  of  God  into  the  earih.^' 

Glancing  now  for  a  moment  at  some  of  the  cur- 
rent interpretations  of  these  seven  last  plagues, 
we  cannot  but  wonder  that  any  should  consider 
all  this  tremendous  and  unparelleled  ado  in 
heaven  to  be  for  nothing  more  than  a  few  petit 
events  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human  history. 
Yet  some  gravely  tell  us  that  the  first  bowl  is  the 
French  Kevolution  ;  the  second  bowl,  the  naval 
wars  of  that  Revolution ;  the  third  bowl,  the  bat- 
tles of  Kapoleon  in  Italy;  the  fourth  bowl,  the 
tyranny  and  military  oppression  of  Napoleon ;  the 
fifth  bowl,  the  calamities  w^hich  befell  the  city  of 
Eome  and  the  Pope  in  consequence  of  the  French 
Revolution  ;  the  sixth  bowl,  the  wane  of  the  Turk- 
ish power,  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine,  and 
the  subtle  influences  of  infidelity.  Popery  and  Pu- 
seyism;  and  the  seventh,  some  further  war  with 
Romanism  and  disaster  to  the  city  of  Rome.  But 
can  it  be  possible  that  God  Almighty  from  His 
everlasting  seat,  the  temple  in  heaven,  all  angels 
and  holy  ones  on  high,  should  thus  be  in  new  and 
unexampled  commotion,  with  the  mightiest  of  all 
celestial  demonstrations,  over  nothing  but  a  few 
occurrences  in  a  small  part  of  the  smallest  section  of 
the  globe,  and  those  occurrences  far  less  in  meaning 
or  moment  than  many  others  in  other  ages !  Ac- 
cording to  such  interpretation  mankind  have  been 
living  for  the  last  100  years  amid  the  extreme  ter- 
rors of  ''  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord '' 


70  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

without  ever  knowing  it !  yea,  dreaming  the  while 
that  we  are  happily  gliding  into  the  era  of  univer- 
sal liberty  and  peace !  Are  France  and  Italy  the 
earth  !  Are  half  a  dozen  naval  battles,  scattered 
over  a  dozen  years,  and  touching  here  and  there  a 
speck  of  sea  hardly  to  be  pointed  out  on  a  terres- 
trial globe,  to  be  taken  as  the  turning  of  the  whole 
ocean  to  blood,  by  which  everything  that  lives  in 
the  sea  dies  !  If  ITapoleon's  artillery  was  the  sun- 
scorch  of  blasphemers,  was  not  the  blasphemy  of 
the  scorchers  by  far  worse  than  the  blasphemy  of 
the  scorched  !  Alas  for  the  worth  of  Revelation 
if  this  is  the  proper  way  of  reading  it ! 

The  greatest  plagues  of  judgment  of  which  we 
read  in  the  past  were  those  poured  out  upon  an- 
cient Egypt.  They  were  literal  plagues,  which  hap- 
pened according  to  the  terms  in  which  they  are 
recorded.  These  seven  last  plagues  are  the  con- 
summation of  God's  judgment  plagues,  including 
in  them  all  that  have  gone  before,  and  rendering 
in  final  and  intensest  perfection  what  was  pre- 
viously rehearsed  on  a  smaller  scale,  preliminary 
to  the  great  performance.  What  the  preparatory 
rehearsal  was,  that  must  the  final  rendering  be. 
The  last  plagues  must  therefore  be  literal  too.  In 
what  sense  or  degree,  however,  was  the  French 
Revolution,  or  the  doings  of  Kapoleon  Bonaparte,  a 
consummation  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  ?  Read, 
and  ponder. 

The  first  priest-angel  ^'poured  out  his  bowl  into 
the  earth,  ayid  there  became  a  grievous  sore  upon  the 
men  who  had  the  mark  of  the  Beast,  and  those  who 


LECTURE    XXXVI.     CHAPS.    15  :  1-8  ;  16  :  1  -  11.       71 

worship  his  image.''  Did  none  but  Romanists  sutfer 
from  the  French  Revolution  and  the  military  des- 
potism which  it  evolved  ?     If  so,  this  plague  does 
not  refer  to  that  event ;  for  it  touches  only  such 
as  have  the  mark  of  the  Beast.    The  sores  of  Laz- 
arus at  the    rich   man's   gate  were   not  Romish 
errors,  nor  French  infidelity ;  but  the  sore  of  this 
angel's  outpouring  is  denoted  by  the  same  word 
which  described  the  ailment  of  Lazarus.    It  is  the 
Egyptian  plague  of  ulcers  intensified.    Burnt  earth 
was  there  scattered,  "  and  it  became  a  boil,  break- 
ing forth  with  blains,  upon  man  and  upon  beast;'' 
and  it  was  "  upon  the  magicians,  and  upon  all  the 
Egyptians.^'    (Ex.  19  :  8-12.)     When  Moses  after- 
wards pronounced  the  curses  of  heaven  upon  those 
who  disown  God  and  throw  off  allegiance  to  Him, 
he  said  :  "  The  Lord  will  smite  thee  with  the  botch 
of  Egypt,  and  with  the  emerods,  and  with  the 
scab,  and  with  the  itch,  whereof  thou  canst  not 
be   healed.     The   Lord   shall   smite   thee  in  the 
knees,  and  in  the  legs,  with  a  sore  botch  that  cannot 
be  healed,  from  the  sole  of  thy  foot  unto  the  top  of 
thy  head."  (Deut.  28  :  15,  27,  35.)    This  has  never 
yet  been  fulfilled ;  but  John  here  sees  it  fulfilled 
upon  those  who  have  cast  off  the  worship  of  Jeho- 
vah for  the  worship  and  mark  of  the  Antichrist. 

'^  And  the  second  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  sea;- 
and  it  became  blood,  as  of  one  dead,  and  the  things  in 
the  sea,  every  soul  of  lije,  died:'  So  far  as  the  naval 
battles  of  the  French  Revolution  affected  the  sea, 
they  killed  nothing  of  the  living  things  therein,  but 
fattened  them, and  scarcely  stained  a  single  wave; 


72  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

SO  far  were  they  from  turning  all  the  ocean's 
waters  into  bloody  clots.  One  of  the  plagues  of 
Egypt  was,  that  God  "  turned  their  waters  into 
blood,  and  slew  their  fish."  (Is.  105  :  30.)  Under 
the  second  trumpet  (chapter  8 :  8)  the  sea  was 
affected,  and  the  third  of  it  was  turned  into  blood. 
But  here  the  whole  sea  is  affected,  and  a  change 
is  wrought  which  makes  all  its  waters  like  to  the 
blood  of  one  dead, — clotted,  putrescent,  and  utterly 
destructive  of  the  life  of  what  lives  in  the  sea. 
Hengstenberg  and  others  say  that  we  are  here  to 
think  of  "  the  shedding  of  blood  in  war ;"  but  there 
is  not  a  word  said  about  war ;  and  if  living  things 
in  the  sea  mean  human  beings,  peoples,  nations, 
tribes,  and  tongues,  this  plague  sweeps  them  all 
out  of  existence;  for  every  living  thing  in  the  sea 
dies  of  this  blood.  If  it  refers  to  war,  it  is  a  very 
anomalous  war,  for  it  leaves  neither  conquered  nor 
conquerors,  and  the  plagues  which  follow  have  no 
subjects  on  which  to  operate.  Stuart  holds  that 
"a  literal  fulfilment  is  not  to  be  sought  after ;  " 
but  if  it  is  not  literal,  then  were  not  the  plagues 
of  Egypt  literal,  nor  is  any  other  sort  of  ful- 
filment possible  ;  and  thus  the  tremendous  record 
is  rendered  meaningless.  I  take  it  as  it  reads; 
and  if  any  dissent,  on  them  is  the  burden  of  prov- 
ing some  other  sense,  and  of  reducing  to  agree- 
ment their  mutually  destructive  notions  as  to  what 
it  does  mean.  Take  it  as  God  has  caused  it  to  be 
written,  and  there  can  be  no  disagreement;  take 
it  in  any  other  way,  and  the  uncertainty  is  endless. 
^^  And  the  third  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  rivers 


\ECTURE    XXXVI.     C  H  AP  S.    15  :  1-8  ;  16  :  1  -  11.      73 

and  the  fountains  of  waters ;  and  they  became  blood.^^ 
When  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  upon  the 
waters  of  Egypt,  upon  their  streams,  upon  their 
rivers,  and  upon  all  their  pools  of  water,  "  all  the 
waters  that  were  in  the  river  were  turned  to  blood ; 
and  the  fish  that  were  in  the  river  died ;  and  the 
river  stank,  and  the  Egyptians  could  not  drink  of 
the  water  of  the  river;  and  there  was  blood  through- 
out all  the  land  of  Egypt/'  (Ex.  7  :  19-21.)  And 
what  thus  happened  with  one  river  and  one  country, 
now  occurs  in  all  waters  in  all  countries.  Under 
the  third  trunipet  (chap.  8  :  10,  11),  a  third  of  the 
rivers  and  water-springs  became  nauseous  and  nox- 
ious with  bitterness ;  but  this  plague  touches  them 
all,  and  turns  them  into  blood,  so  that  the  hosts 
of  Antichrist  can  find  nothing  to  drink  but  blood. 
A  more  dreadful  plague  can  hardly  be  imagined  ; 
but  it  is  just.  "  The  angel  of  the  waters/'  he  who 
has  the  administration  of  this  plague,  is  amazed 
at  the  greatness  of  the  infliction,  but  breaks  forth 
in  celebration  of  the  righteousness  of  Him  who 
was,  and  is  [now  no  longer  to  come,  because 
already  come],  and  praises  Him  for  having  thus 
judged.  The  punishment  is  full  of  horror;  but 
it  is  deserved.  They  shed  the  blood  of  saints  and 
prophets,  and  it  is  due  that  now  their  only  drink 
is  blood.  "Yea,  Lord  God  the  Almighty," 
answers  the  altar,  "  true  and  just  are  Thy  judg- 
ments!" When  God  once  comes  with  His  terri- 
ble awards  upon  the  wicked,  the  righteousness  of 
them  will  be  so  conspicuous,  and  the  justice 
and    truth    of   His    administrations   will    be   so 


74  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

clear  and  manifest,  that  it  will  not  be  in  the 
power  of  any  holy  being  to  tind  a  flaw,  to  raise  a 
question,  or  to  withhold  the  profoundest  Amen. 
And  when  the  earth  refuses  to  yield  any  drink  but 
blood  to  its  apostate  population,  angels,  and  altar, 
and  all  heaven  must  confess  and  answer  that  it  is 
just;  they  deserve  it. 

''And  the  fourth  poured  out  his  bowl  [here  the 
preposition  changes  from  ek  to  ^tt^]  07i  or  over  the 
sun ;  and  it  was  given  to  it  \ihe  smi\  to  scorch  men 
[ina7ikind'\  with  fire.  Ayid  the  men  were  scorched  with 
great  scorching^'  This  belongs  to  the  predicted 
"signs  in  the  sun."  Under  the  fourth  trumpet 
(chap.  8  :  12),  the  heavenly  bodies  were  affected; 
but  in  a  different  way  from  this.  There  the  sun 
was  one-third  darkened;  here  its  power  and  heat 
are  increased,  till  its  rays  become  like  flames.  The 
sun  exists  and  shines  by  God's  command;  and  He 
can  make  it  scorch  and  torture,  as  well  as  cheer 
and  warm.  Moses  and  Malachi  have  spoken  of 
that  day  as  one  that  shall  "  burn  as  an  oven,''  when 
men  shall  be  "  devoured  with  burning  heat.'^ 
(Deut.  32  :  24;  Mai.  4  : 1.)  Here  also  belongs  the 
fulfilment  of  Isaiah's  words :  "  The  earth  mourn- 
eth  and  fadeth  away,  the  world  languisheth  and 
fadeth  away,  the  haughty  people  of  the  earth  do 
languish ;  because  they  have  transgressed  the  laws, 
changed  the  ordinances,  broken  down  the  ever- 
lasting covenant,  therefore  hath  the  curse  de- 
voured the  earth,  and  they  that  dwell  therein  are 
desolate ;  therefore  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are 
burned,  and  few  men  left.''   (Is.  24  :  4-13.)     Some 


LECTURE    XXXVI.     CHAPS.    15  :  1 -8  ;  16  :  1 -11.      75 

eay,  "  It  is  not  of  the  natural  scorching  of  the  sun's 
rays,  and  of  the  injurious  effects  flowing  from  it, 
such  as  excessive  heats,  drought,  and  famine,  that 
we  are  here  to  think;''  but  of  what  else  can  we 
think?  It  is  the  sun  that  is  smitten  ;  that  smiting 
causes  the  emission  of  rays  that  scorch  and  burn 
to  a  degree  that  John  says  they  are^Ve;  and  to 
think  of  anything  but  scorching  and  consuming 
heat  from  the  sun  is  simply  to  browbeat  the 
words  of  inspiration.  Men  are  scorched  by  an 
extraordinary  powder  of  the  sun,  oppressed,  burned, 
killed  by  its  fiery  rays,  smitten  with  sunstroke, 
overwbelmed  with  siroccos,  suffocated  with  solar 
heat;  and  yet  we  are  not  to  think  of  the  sun,  or 
of  any  injurious  effects  from  its  burning  rays!  O 
the  havoc  which  men  make  of  God's  word  to  fit 
it  to  their  faulty  theories  !  Here  is  one  of  the  last 
plagues  of  "  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the 
Lord ;"  and  it  is  nothing  less  than  God's  glorious 
sunshine,  intensified  with  fiery  heat,  so  that  it 
burns  and  scorches  earth  and  man,  decimating  the 
inhabitants  of  city  and  country  alike.  Disastrous 
plague ! 

We  would  think  that  such  a  succession  of  ills 
would  bring  the  most  infatuated  to  their  senses, 
and  that  there  would  come  forth  from  all  the 
world  one  loud  repentant  cry  to  God  for  mercy. 
We  would  think  it  impossible  for  people  with  souls 
in  them  to  hold  out  against  such  exhibitions  of 
angry  Almightiness.  But  no;  they  only  blas- 
pheme the  name  of  the  God  having  command  of 
these  plagues,  and  repent  not  to  give  glory  to  Him. 


76  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

They  have  all  sold  themselves  to  hell  and  received 
the  sacrament  and  seal  of  it  upon  their  bodies,  and 
they  only  dare  and  sin  on  to  their  inevitable  dam- 
nation. 

Many  are  waiting  for  times  of  affliction  and 
death  to  bring  them  to  repentance  and  salvation; 
but  those  who  wilfully  sin  away  their  good  days 
count  in  vain  on  something  softening  and  remedial 
from  the  judgments  of  their  despised  and  incensed 
Maker.  The  sun  may  scorch,  and  extort  still 
further  blasphemies,  but  it  cannot  change  the 
stubborn  heart,  or  burn  into  it  the  saving  fear 
and  love  of  God.  Sin  is  a  cancer,  which,  if  left 
to  run  too  long,  can  never  more  be  cured.  Another 
judgment-plague  descends,  but  with  no  better 
effect. 

"  The  fifth  Angel  poured  out  his  bowl  on  or  over  the 
throne  of  the  Beast;  and  his  hingdom  became  dark- 
ened^ and  they  bit  their  tongues  from  the  pain,  and  they 
blasphemed  the  God  of  the  heaven  from  their  pain,  and 
from  their  sores,  and  repented  not  out  of  their  deeds. ^^ 
The  effects  of  these  judgments  overlap  each  other. 
The  sores  of  the  first  plague  are  still  felt  during 
the  second  and  third,  and  even  here  under  the 
fifth.  This  proves  that  these  plagues  all  fall  upon 
the  people  of  one  and  the  same  generation,  and 
hence  dare  not  be  extended  through  centuries. 
The  Antichrist  has  but  3J  years,  and  all  seven  of 
these  last  plagues  fall  upon  him  and  his  followers. 
Here  his  very  throne  is  assailed,  and  his  entire 
dominion  is  filled  with  darkness.  The  last  but 
one  of   the  Egyptian  plagues  was  a  plague  of 


LECTURE    XXXVI.    CH  A  PS.    15  :  1 -8;  16  :  1  -  11.       77 

darkness.  The  Book  of  Wisdom  (17:21)  says: 
"  Over  them  was  spread  a  heavy  night,  an  image 
of  that  darkness  which  should  afterward  receive 
them;  but  yet  were  they  unto  themselves  more 
grievous  than  the  darkness."  Here  is  a  corre- 
sponding darkness,  coextensive  with  the  world- 
wide empire  of  this  Beast.  From  the  centre  of 
his  kingdom,  even  to  its  utmost  limits,  everything 
is  darkened.  Isaiah  prophesied  of  this  when  he 
said,  "  Behold,  the  darkness  shall  cover  the  earth,  and 
gross  darkness  the  people.''  (Is.  60  :  2.)  Joel  proph- 
esied of  it  when  he  said :  "  The  day  of  the  Lord 
cometh,  a  day  of  darkness  and  of  gloominess,  a  day  of 
clouds  and  thick  darkness.''  "The  sun  shall  be 
turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood." 
(Joel  2  : 1,  2,  31.)  Nahum  prophesied  of  it  when 
he  said  that  the  fierceness  of  God's  anger  shall  be 
poured  out  like  fire,  and  "darkness  shall  pursue 
His  enemies."  (Nah.  1 :  6,  8.)  Our  blessed  Saviour 
prophesied  of  it  when  He  declared :  "  In  those 
days,  after  that  tribulation,  the  sun  shall  be  dark- 
erud,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the 
stars  of  heaven  shall  fall,"  failing  in  all  their  offices 
of  light-givers.  (Mark  13  :  24,  25.)  And  great  are 
the  miseries  of  that  darkness ;  for  it  causes  those 
who  feel  it  to  bite  their  tongues  by  reason  of  the 
distress  which  it  adds  to  all  the  rest  of  their  tor- 
ments. And  is  it  nothing  but  the  suppression  of 
the  monasteries  and  Romish  clergy  in  France  in 
1789,  and  ITapoleon's  levies  upon  the  revenues  and 
siezure  of  the  properties  and  person  of  a  helpless 
old  Pope  ?   Have  all  the  prophets  been  thus  stirred 


7g  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

up  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  tell  the  world  of  those 
few,  limited,  and  temporary  calamities  incident  to 
ordinary  human  ambition  and  war,  that  all  men  of 
all  ages  might  stand  in  awe  and  fear  God  lest  they 
should  come  under  Napoleon's  dealings  with  the 
papacy  ?  Would  it  not  seem  as  if  some  shadows 
of  this  coming  darkness  were  already  upon  the 
understandings  of  some  of  Christ's  professed  min- 
isters ?  God  help  them  to  the  light,  that  they  may 
repent  out  of  their  sad  mistreatments  of  these 
great  revelations,  and  give  to  Him  the  glory  by 
doing  just  honor  to  His  Holy  Word  ! 

The  darkness  which  thus  comes  over  the  king- 
dom of  the  Beast  must  be  literal,  as  that  of  Egypt 
was ;  for  that  was  the  prelibatiou  of  this, — the  pre- 
rehearsal  of  what  is  to  come.  If  not  literal,  it  is  im- 
possible for  any  man  to  tell  us  what  it  is.  People 
may  guess  and  reason,  but  that  cannot  fix  the  mean- 
ing of  God's  word.  And  to  carry  the  theory  of  a 
mere  "figurative  representation  "  into  all  the  sacred 
predictions  which  refer  to  it,  can  only  spread  ih\s^. 
darkness  upon  some  of  the  most  momentous  por- 
tions of  .divine  revelation.  It  is  at  all  events  vastly 
better  to  risk  mistake  b}^  clinging  fast  to  the  plain 
sense  of  what  God  has  caused  to  be  written  for 
our  learning,  than  to  go  floundering  through  a 
world  of  fancies,  ever  learning,  but  never  able  to 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  And  if  in 
the  great  day  of  fulfilment,  when  God  shall  turn 
these  prophecies  into  living  realities,  things  should 
not  turn  out  according  to  the  terms  used  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  we  shall  be  the  more  excusable  for 


LECTURE  XXXVI.  CHAPS.  16:1-8;  16:1-11.   79 

having  clung  to  the  record  as  it  stands.     In  any 
event,  our  simple  faith  will  be  our  best  apology. 

This  darkening  of  the  Beast's  kingdom,  added 
to  the  earlier  inflictions,  brings  terrible  distress. 
The  description  indicates  the  intensest  writhings 
of  anguish,   the  very  madness  of   vexation  and 
pain.     The  people  who  suffer  these  plagues  bite 
their  tongues,  chew  them,  gnaw  them,  as  their 
best  diversion  from  their  misery.     Their  tongues 
have  spoken  blasphemies,  and   they   themselves 
thus  punish  them.    Earth  has  become  like  hell  for 
wickedness,   and   so    it    becomes    like    hell    for 
darkness  and  torment, — nay,  still  further  like  hell, 
because  there  is  no  repentance  in  its  inhabitants. 
Instead  of  cursing  themselves  for  their  impieties, 
they  curse  God  as  the  offender,  for  thus  interfer- 
ing with  their  preferences  and  their  peace.     To 
the  ulcers,  the  bloody  waters,  the   sun-scorches, 
now  comes  this  horrible  darkness;  and  a  God  of 
such  administrations  they  disdain  to  honor,  even 
under  all  their  miseries.     They  will  gnaw  their 
tongues  with  pain  and  rage  rather  than  speak  a 
prayer  of  penitence  to  Him.     ISTothing  but  curs- 
ing and   horrid   denunciations   will    they   utter. 
When  they  saw  the  two  slain  Witnesses  come  to 
life  again  and  ascend  to  heaven,  they  were  willing 
to  own  that  the  God  of  heaven  is  God,  and  to  give 
Him  something  of  His  glory.     But  it  was  only  a 
temporary    reverence,   which    soon    faded   away. 
Here  they  are  again  compelled  to  acknowledge 
Him  as  "  the  God  of  heaven,"  but  it  is  only  to 
heap  new  blasphemies  on  His  name. 

VOL.  III.  63 


gQ  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Some  talk  of  conversion  in  hell,  and  of  an  ulti- 
mate restoration  of  the  wicked.  Does  this  pres- 
entation look  as  if  such  a  thing  were  possible? 
If  hell-torments  can  cure  men  of  their  wicked- 
ness, why  are  not  these  people  subdued  to  peni- 
tence ?  These  are  the  outpourings  of  that  very 
divine  wrath  which  makes  hell ;  but  where  is  the 
remedial  impression,  the  turning  from  sin,  the 
seeking  for  reconciliation  ?  And  while  sin  lasts, 
hell  must  last.  These  people  have  rebelled  until 
the  very  spirit  of  perdition  has  settled  in  upon 
their  souls,  and  henceforth  there  is  no  more  hope 
for  them.  Another  bowl  of  wrath  is  poured  out; 
but  its  efiect  is  the  opening  of  the  ways  for  the 
gathering  of  them  together  to  the  scene  of 
slaughter;  and  then  follows  the  last,  which  lets 
loose  upon  them  all  the  long-chained  thunders  of 
angered  Omnipotence,  overwhelming  their  works 
and  lives  in  a  sea  of  blood ! 

Many,  my  friends,  are  the  pictures  of  God's 
judgments  upon  those  who  reject  His  Gospel,  and 
refuse  to  have  Him  rule  over  them.  A  dreadful 
catalogue  we  have  had  before  us  to-night.  But 
with  how  poor  and  feeble  an  interest  do  many 
regard  these  momentous  revelations!  There  is 
perhaps  nothing  which  a  sinner,  or  neglecter  of 
God  and  his  soul,  so  little  expects,  as  the  punish- 
ment of  his  sins.  Of  ungodliness  in  general,  its 
sinfulness,  its  danger,  and  the  certain  judgment  of 
God  upon  it,  he  can  discourse  with  fluency  and 
confidence.  He  has  no  doubt  that  God  is  a  holy 
God,  and  will  by  no  means  spare  those  who  fail  to 


LECTURE  XXXVI.  CHAPS.  15:1-8;  16:1-11.   g^ 

make  their  peace  with  Him.  But  wheu  it  comes 
to  his  own  sins,  negligence  and  disobedience,  what 
thought  or  feeling  has  he  of  that  awful  account- 
ability which  in  the  abstract  he  so  readily  admits  ? 
To  what  extent  does  he  realize  that  his  sins  will 
find  him  out,  or  that  heis  the  one  in  danger?  He 
listens;  he  assents;  he  hears  with  pleasure  the 
array  of  reasoning  about  righteousness,  temper- 
ance, and  judgment  to  come;  he  even  admires  the 
vivid  and  faithful  preaching  of  the  sure  and  ter- 
rible wrath  of  God  upon  transgressors;  and  yet 
he  goes  on  in  his  sins  and  disobedience,  betimes  a 
little  disturbed,  but  soon  recomposed  in  his  impen- 
itence, unconverted  from  his  old  ways,  till  the  end 
comes,  and  he  dies  as  he  lived,  unreconciled  to 
God,  unsanctified,  and  unsaved. 

Have  I  thus  hit  upon  the  case  of  any  one  now 
listening  to  me  ?  Then  let  this  subject  be  to  you 
an  effectual  warning.  Here  is  the  laying  open  to 
your  view  of  what  must  come  upon  the  unbeliev- 
ing world.  Here  is  the  sacred  foreshowing  of  the 
end  which  awaits  them  that  know  not  God,  and 
obey  not  the  Gospel  of  His  Son.  There  is  an  in- 
dissoluble ligament  which  binds  together  impeni- 
tence in  sin  and  inevitable  damnation.  Even  the 
incense  bowls  of  the  holy  altar  are  full  of  the 
wrath  of  God  for  all  despisers  and  neglecters  of 
the  great  salvation.  Angels  of  the  heavenly  tem- 
ple stand  girt  in  gold,  prepared  and  ready  to  pour 
them  out.  And  we  need  only  listen  with  an  atten- 
tive ear  to  hear  the  rustle  and  mutter  of  the  dread- 
ful thunder  of  those  cataracts  of  God's  indignation 


82 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


upon  them  that  turn  not  from  their  sins.  Have 
you  never  felt  the  sting  and  rankling  poison  in 
your  soul,  if  not  in  your  very  bones,  of  some  past 
transgressions  of  v^hich  you  have  made  yourself 
guilty?  Has  your  conscience  never  smitten  you^ 
and  made  your  sleep  uneasy,  and  tinged  your 
thinking  with  bitterness,  for  the  sort  of  life  you 
have  been  leading  ?  Is  there  not  some  conscious 
shame  and  sense  of  wretchedness  going  along  with 
the  indulgence  even  of  those  darling  lusts  and  dis- 
like of  sacred  things  which  you  allow  to  have 
place  in  your  heart?  And  what  is  all  this  but  the 
premonitory  drops  of  that  wrath  of  God  which 
must  presently  come  in  great  deluging  showers  ? 
O  child  of  man,  give  heed,  and  turn,  and  fly,  be- 
fore the  threatening  avalanche  of  the  Almighty's 
judgments  comes !  And  now,  whilst  this  little 
feeling  of  anxiety  and  disturbance  is  upon  you,  let 
it  not  pass  without  a  thorough  change  in  all  your 
ways ;  lest  the  next  time  the  feeling  of  compunc- 
tion comes,  it  may  find  you  amid  the  hopeless  tor- 
ments of  eternal  death. 


LECTURE  THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

THE  SIXTH  BOWL  OF  WRATH  —  THE  EUPHRATES  LITERALLY 
DRIED  —  THE  UNCLEAN  SPIRITS  —  THE  ENTHUSIASM  THEY 
AWAKEN  —  A  SINGULAR  NOTE  OF  WARNING  —  HARMAGED- 
DON — THE  SEVENTH  BOWL  OF  WRATH — ITS  EFFECTS 
SYNOPTICALLY  GIVEN — CONVULSIONS  IN  THE  AIR— IN  THE 
EARTH  —  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  JERUSALEM  CHANGED  —  GREAT 
BABYLON  REMEMBERED  IN  THE  PRESENCE  OF  GOD — CON- 
FIGURATION OF  THE  EARTH  ALTERED  —  AN  UNPRECE- 
DENTED  HAILSTORM — INVETERATE   DEPRAVITY. 


Rev.  16  :  12-21.  (Revised  Text.)  And  the  sixth  poured  out  his  bowl 
on  [or  over]  the  great  river,  the  Euphrates ;  and  the  water  of  it  was 
dried  up,  that  the  way  of  the  kings,  they  from  the  sunrising,  might  be 
prepared.  And  I  saw  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet  three  unclean 
spirits,  like  frogs  ;  for  they  are  the  spirits  of  demons,  working  miracles, 
which  go  forth  on  [or  over]  the  kings  of  the  whole  habitable  world,  to 
gather  them  to  the  battle  of  the  great  day  of  God  the  Almighty.  (Be- 
hold, I  come  as  a  thief;  blessed  he  that  watcheth,  and  keepeth  his  gar- 
ments, that  he  walk  not  naked,  and  they  see  his  shame.)  And  they 
gathered  them  together  to  the  place  which  is  called  in  Hebrew  Harma- 
geddon. 

And  the  seventh  poured  out  his  bowl  on  [or  over]  the  air  ;  and  there 
came  forth  a  voice  out  of  the  temple  from  the  throne,  saying,  It  is 
done.  And  there  became  lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunderings ;  and 
there  became  a  great  earthquake,  such  as  became  not  since  there  be- 
came a  man  on  the  earth,  such  an  earthquake,  so  great.  And  the  great 
city  became  into  three  parts,  and  the  cities  of  the  nations  fell,  and 
Babylon  the  great  was  remembered  in  the  presence  of  God,  to  give  to 
her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of  his  anger.  And  every  island 
fled,  and  mountains  were  not  found,  and  a  great  hail,  like  as  a  talent  [in 
weight],  fell  out  of  the  heaven  on  the  men  ;  and  the  men  blasphemed 
God  on  account  of  the  plague  of  the  bail,  because  the  plague  thereof  is 
exceedingly  great. 

(  83) 


84 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


THE  vision  of  the  seven  last  plagues  presents  a 
distinct  series  of  events,  giving  details  of  the 
last  great  afflictions  which  fall  upon  the  world,  then 
quite  given  over  into  the  Devil's  hands.  Thus 
far  we  have  briefly  considered  five  of  these  disas- 
trous outpourings  from  the  golden  bowls.  Two 
more  remain  to  engage  our  present  attention. 
Let  us  not  forget  to  look  devoutly  to  God  our 
Father  to  help  us  understand  them. 

^'And  the  sixth  angel  poured  out  his  bowl  on  or  over 
the  great  river  Euphrates;  and  the  water  of  it  was 
dried  up,  that  the  way  of  the  kings,  they  from  the  sun- 
rising,  might  be  prepared.^^  This  must  mean  the 
literal  river.  The  ulcers  are  literal;  the  sea, 
streams,  and  watersprings,  turned  to  a  condition 
resembling  blood  are  literal;  the  heat  and  scorch- 
ing from  the  sun  are  literal;  the  darkness  which 
covers  the  dominion  of  the  Beast  is  literal ;  and 
this  must  necessarily  be  literal  too,  whatever  mys^ 
Ceriousness  may  be  involved.  The  opening  of  a 
dry  passage  through  the  Red  Sea,  and  through  the 
Jordan,  when  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt  and  en- 
tered Canaan,  were  literal  matters  of  fact;  and 
they  were  openings  for  judgments  upon  the 
wicked,  as  well  as  of  help  and  favor  to  the  Lord's 
chosen.  The  drying  up  of  the  tongue  of  the 
Egyptian  sea  prepared  the  way  for  the  great  and 
final  destruction  of  the  oppressive  powers  that 
sought  Israel's  ruin.  The  rolling  back  of  Jordan's 
waters  was  likewise  the  preparation  and  opening 
for  the  fall  of  Jericho,  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
Canaanitic  confederations.     And  this  drying  up 


LECTURE   XXXVII.    CHAP.    16:12-21.  35 

of  the  great  river  Euphrates  is  a  corresponding 
event,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  more  wonderful 
destruction  to  which  the  kings  of  the  earth  and 
their  armies  are  gathered  in  the  great  day  of  God 
Almighty.  Isaiah  (11 :  16)  refers  to  it  where  he 
says :  "  With  His  mighty  wind  shall  he  shake  his 
hand  over  the  river  [evidently  the  Euphrates],  and 
shall  smite  it  in  the  seven  streams,  and  make 
men  go  over  dryshod."  A  recovery  of  certain 
remnants  of  the  Jewish  people  is  there  connected 
with  this  miracle,  "  as  it  was  to  Israel  in  the  day 
that  he  came  up  out  of  Egypt;"  but  here,  as  there, 
one  of  the  most  marked  things  is  the  opening  for 
and  leading  of  the  doomed  powers  to  their  de- 
struction. Zechariah  refers  to  this,  along  with 
some  of  the  preceding  plagues,  where  he  says : 
"  He  shall  pass  through  the  sea  with  affliction,  and 
shall  smite  the  waves  in  the  sea,  and  all  the  deeps 
in  the  river  shall  dry  up,  and  the  pride  of  Assyria 
shall  be  brought  down."  (Zech.  10:11;  see  also 
Jer.  51 :  36.)  At  the  sounding  of  the  sixth  trum- 
pet, the  same  great  river  was  referred  to  as  a  bond 
or  boundary  to  certain  destructive  powers,  which 
were  then  let  loose  in  dreadful  inflictions  upon  the 
wicked  populations  of  the  earth.*  So  here  it  is 
referred  to  as  a  barrier  in  the  way  of  movements 
which  terminate  in  fearful  disaster  to  those  who 
for  unholy  purposes  avail  themselves  of  its  re- 
moval. 

From  time  immemorial  the  Euphrates,  with  its 

*  Rev.  9 :  13-21.     See  Vol.  II,  pp.  109-122. 


gg  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

tributaries,  has  been  a  great  and  formidable  boun^ 
dary  between  the  peoples  east  of  it  and  those  west 
of  it.     It  runs  a  distance  of  1800  miles,  and  is 
scarcely  fordable  anywhere  or  at  any  time.     It 
is  from  three  to  twelve  hundred  yards  wide,  and 
from  ten  to  thirty  feet  in  depth;  and  most  of  the 
time  it  is  still  deeper  and  wider.  It  was  the  boun- 
dary of  the  dominion  of  Solomon,  and  is  repeatedly 
spoken  of  as   the   northeast   limit  of  the  lands 
promised  to  Israel.    (Gen.  15  :  18;  Deut.  11 :  24; 
Josh.  1 :  4.)     Some  think  that  Abraham  is  called 
a  Hebrew,  and  all  his  descendants  Hebrews,  because 
he  crossed  this  river,  migrating  from  the  further 
side  of  it  to  this.     History  frequently  refers  to  the 
great  hindrance  the  Euphrates  has  been  to  mili- 
tary movements ;  and  it  has  always  been  a  line  of 
separation  between  the  peoples  living  east  of  it 
and  those  living  west  of  it.     But  in  the  time  of 
the  pouring  out  of  the  sixth  bowl  of  judgment 
this  river  is  to  be  mysteriously  smitten  and  dried 
up,  that  the  kings  from  the  sunrising  may  have 
an    easy  passage  for  their  armies  in   coming  to 
join  the  great  infernal  crusade  against  the  Lamb. 
It  looks   like   a   gracious   event,  and  a  gracious 
aspect  it  has  in  some  of  the  prophecies  respect- 
ing it,  for  it  also  facilitates  the  return  of  cer- 
tain remnants  of  the  Israelitish  people;    but  as 
Grod's  opening  through  the  Eed  Sea  proved  a  trap 
of  destruction  to  the   persecuting   Egyptians,  so 
will  it  be  in  this  case  to  the  kings  from  the  sun- 
rising.     Availing  themselves  of  the  easy  passage 
thus  afforded  to  come  forth,  they  come  to  a  scene 


LECTURE    XXXVII.  CHAP.    16:12-21.  §7 

of  slaughter  from  which  they  never  return.  It  is 
the  outpouring  of  a  bowl  of  wrath  which  opens  their 
way.  It  is  a  judgment,  though  it  seems  for  the  time 
to  be  a  favor. 

But  the  mere  drying  up  of  the  river  would 
not  so  much  harm  them  were  not  other  agen- 
cies at  work,  to  induce  them  to  make  use  of  the 
facilities  thus  aftbrded.  The  kings  and  armies  of 
the  world  would  not  come  together  into  Palestine 
were  there  not  a  very  extraordinary  influence  to 
bring  about  the  marvellous  congregation.  Accord- 
ingly the  rapt  seer  tells  of  a  mysterious  infernal 
ministry  in  the  matter.  IN'ot  only  does  this  sixth 
bowl  of  wrath  dry  up  the  Euphrates.  It  likewise 
evokes  spirits  of  hell  to  incite,  deceive,  and  per- 
suade the  nations  to  their  ruin.  John  says:  "/ 
saio  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Dragon,  and  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  False 
Prophet,  three  unclean  sjnrits,  like  frogs  ;  for  they  are 
the  spirits  of  demons,  ivorking  miracles,  which  go  forth 
on  or  over  the  kings  of  the  whole  habitable  world,  to 
gather  them  to  the  battle  of  the  great  day  of  God,  the 
Almighty.'^ 

When  the  unexampled  wickedness  of  Ahab  was 
come  to  the  full,  and  it  was  determined  in  heaven 
that  an  end  should  be  made  of  him,  ''The  Lord 
said :  Who  shall  persuade  Ahab,  that  he  may 
go  up  and  fall  at  Ramoth-Gilead?  And  one  said 
on  this  manner,  and  another  said  on  that  manner. 
And  there  came  forth  a  spirit,  and  stood  before 
the  Lord,  and  said:  I  will  persuade  him.  And 
the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Wherewith  ?     And  he 


88 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


said :  I  will  go  forth,  and  I  will  be  a  lying  spirit 
in  the  mouth  of  all  his  prophets.  And  He  said  : 
Thou  shalt  persuade  him,  and  prevail  also;  go  forth 
and  do  so."  So  the  Lord  put  a  lying  spirit  in  the 
mouth  of  all  Ahab's  prophets ;  and  he  went  up  to 
Ramoth-Gilead,  and  was  wounded  between  the 
joints  of  his  harness,  and  was  brought  back  a  dead 
man,  and  the  dogs  licked  up  his  blood.  (1  Kings 
22:19-38.)  A  spirit  of  hell  was  allowed  to  go 
forth  to  inflame  and  deceive  him  to  his  ruin. 
And  so  it  is  in  this  case,  only  on  a  vastly  greater 
scale,  and  with  mightier  demonstrations,  to  per- 
suade and  deceive  all  the  kings  and  governments 
of  the  earth  to  join  in  an  expedition  which  proves 
the  most  terribly  disastrous  of  all  the  expeditions 
ever  undertaken  by  man.  In  Ahab's  case  there 
was  but  one  evil  spirit ;  here  are  three^  if  indeed 
this  definite  number  does  not  mean  an  indefinite 
multitude.  It  is  something  of  the  plague  of  frogs 
repeated ;  and  then  the  number  was  infinite.  By 
these  demon  spirits  the  cause  of  the  Dragon,  the 
Beast,  and  the  False  Prophet,  is  furnished  with  a 
universal  ministry.  They  are  sent  out  by  this  in- 
fernal Trinity,  issue  from  it,  do  its  bidding,  act  for 
it  and  in  its  interest.  They  have  the  power  of 
working  miracles,  Satanic  miracles,  by  which  they 
oftset  everything  divinely  supernatural,  and  per- 
suade by  their  preaching,  oracles,  and  lying  won- 
ders, stirring  up  all  the  powers  that  be  to  unite  in 
one  universal  movement  to  suppress  and  extermi- 
nate the  incoming  kingdom  and  power  of  the  Lamb. 
To  tell  exactly  who  and  what  these  seducing 


LECTURE    XXXVII      CHAP.    16:12-21.  §9 

devils  are,  aud  exactly  how  they  manage  their  in- 
fernal mission,  may  not  be  in  our  power.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  we  should  have  definite  knowledge 
of  that  sort.  But  this  is  not  the  only  place  where 
their  agency  and  successes  are  mentioned.  Paul 
tells  us  that  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the 
latter  times  seducing  spirits  shall  manifest  them- 
selves, even  teaching  demons,  deceiving  men  with 
their  lies.  (1  Tim.  4  : 1,  2.)  They  are  spirits;  they 
are  "  unclean  spirits;"  they  are  "  demon  spirits;" 
they  are  sent  forth  into  activity  by  the  Dragon 
Trinity ;  they  are  the  elect  agents  to  awaken  the 
world  to  the  attempt  to  abolish  God  from  the 
earth ;  and  they  are  frog-like  in  that  they  come 
forth  out  of  the  pestiferous  quagmires  of  the  uni- 
verse, do  their  work  amid  the  world's  evening 
shadows,  and  creep,  and  croak,  and  defile,  and 
fill  the  ears  of  the  nations  with  their  noisy  demon- 
strations, till  they  set  all  the  kings  and  armies  of 
the  whole  earth  in  enthusiastic  commotion  for  the 
final  crushing  out  of  the  Lamb  and  all  His  powers. 
As  in  chapter  9,  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  and  of 
Christ  went  forth  into  all  the  earth  to  make  up 
and  gather  together  into  one  holy  fellowship  the 
great  congregation  of  the  sanctified;  so  these 
spirits  of  hell  go  forth  upon  the  kings  and  poten- 
tates of  the  world,  to  make  up  and  gather  together 
the  grand  army  of  the  Devil's  worshippers. 

Nor  need  we  wonder  at  their  success.  Those 
who  will  not  hear  and  obey  the  voice  of  God,  are 
sure  to  be  led  captive  by  the  Devil  and  his  emis- 
saries.    How  great  was  the  stir,  and  how  intense 


90  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  enthusiasm,  awakened  throughout  Europe  by 
the  crusader  craze  set  on  foot  by  Peter  the  Her- 
mit !     How  were  the  nations  aroused  and  set  on 
lire  to  recover  the  holy  places  from  the  dominion 
of  the  Moslem  !     What  myriads  rushed  to  arms, 
took  the  mark  of  the  red  cross  on  their  shoulders, 
and  went  forth  as  one  man,  never  once  calculating 
by  what  means  they  should  live,  much  less  reach 
the  expected  victory  !     And  what  thus  happened 
throughout  Europe  in  reference  to  a  campaign  pro- 
fessedly/or Christ,  may  readily  happen  throughout 
the  whole  habitable  world,  when  the  question  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  earth  hangs  upon  the  success  or 
failure  of  one  last,  grand,  and  universal  engage- 
ment of  battle.  It  is  in  sacred  irony  of  the  univer- 
sal enthusiasm  stirred  up  by  these  spirits,  that  Jeho- 
vah says  by  the  mouth  of  Joel  (3 :  9-11):  "  Proclaim 
ye  this  among  the  Gentiles ;  prepare  war ;  wake  up 
the  mighty  men  ;  let  all  the  rnen  of  war  draw  near; 
let  them  come  up.     Beat  your  ploughshares  into 
swords,  and  your  pruning  hooks  into  spears ;  let  the 
weak  say,  I  am  strong.     Assemble  yourselves  to- 
gether round  about !  "     The  divine  taunt  thus  ex- 
pressed reflects  the  character  of  the  proceedings 
which  it  scorns.     The  heathen  are  on  fire  with 
rage.     The   kings   of  the   earth   set   themselves. 
The  rulers  take  counsel  together  against  the  Lord, 
and  against  His  Anointed.     The  cry  is.  Let  us 
break  their  bands  asunder,  and  cast  away  their 
cords  from  us  !     But  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heav- 
ens laughs,  and  the  Lord  hath  them  in  derision. 
(Ps.  2  :  1-4.) 


LECTURE    XXXVII.    CHAP.     16:12-21.  gj 

Just  here,  however,  there  breaks  in  a  singular 
note  of  warning.  Whilst  the  unclean  spirits  are  suc- 
cessfully stirring  up  the  kings  of  the  whole  habit- 
able world  and  gathering  them  for  the  battle  of 
the  great  day,  John  hears  a  voice,  which  says, 
"  Behold  I  come  as  a  thief;  blessed  he  that  watcheth, 
and  keepeth  his  garments^  that  he  loalh  not  naked,  and 
they  see  his  shame.^^  What  means  this  strange  an- 
nouncement here  ?  It  is  plainly  the  voice  of  Jesus, 
and  the  word  is  like  to  that  so  often  given  to  the 
Church  with  reference  to  His  coming  again ;  but 
how  does  it  apply  here,  after  so  many  classes,  in- 
cluding the  great  body  of  the  saved,  are  already 
in  heaven,  with  all  their  anxious  watching  past? 
By  referring  to  the  vision  interjected  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  account  of  the  seven  last  plagues,  we 
may  perhaps  come  upon  the  true  explanation. 
There  is  a  gathering  of  saints  under  these  plagues, 
as  well  as  a  gathering  of  the  armies  of  the  apos- 
tate world.  Those  who  live  at  the  time  of  the 
Antichrist  do  not  all  worship  him  or  his  image. 
Some  hold  out  to  the  last  against  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  Antichrist  as  God,  and  will  not  be  marked 
with  his  number  or  his  name.  Most  of  them  die 
martyrs  to  their  faith,  but  they  conquer  all  the  blan- 
dishments and  bloody  persecutions  of  the  Beast, 
unstained  by  his  hellish  abominations.  In  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  we  were  furnished  with  an  antici- 
pative  vision  of  their  heavenly  reward  for  their 
faithfulness.  They  ultimately  stand  by  the  sea  of 
glass,  having  harps  of  God,  and  singing  the  song 
of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.    John  sees  them  there  in 


92  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

glory  and  immortality.  Their  great  characteris- 
tic is,  that,  having  lived  under  the  Beast,  they 
conquered  in  all  the  terrible  trials  and  temptations 
endured  from  him.  Having  thus  reached  their 
heavenly  glory,  there  must  have  been  a  coming 
of  Christ  for  them,  a  resurrection  and  translation 
for  them,  as  there  had  been  a  resurrection  and 
translation  for  other  classes  and  companies  at 
other  periods  and  stages  of  these  judgment  ad- 
ministrations. The  occurrence  of  the  vision  of 
their  blessedness  in  connection  with  these  last 
plagues  indicates  that  it  must  be  in  among  these 
outpourings  that  Jesus  comes  for  them.  When 
once  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  their  armies  be- 
gin to  gather  for  the  great  battle,  the  last  act  is 
close  at  hand,  and  the  last  of  the  Gospel  age  is 
reached.  Somewhere  about  this  time,  then,  Christ 
comes  for  this  last  band  of  the  children  of  the  resur- 
rection, whether  dead  or  yet  living.  Of  course,  it 
is  a  coming  of  the  same  kind  and  character  as  his 
coming  for  those  saints  who  were  taken  earlier ; 
for  it  is  the  completion  of  that  one  coming  for 
his  people  which  is  everywhere  set  forth.  Here 
also,  as  in  all  other  cases,  nothing  but  a  state  of 
watchful  readiness  when  the  call  comes  can  secure 
a  share  in  the  blessing.  Though  these  people  may 
have  fought  valiantly,  if  at  the  time  they  be  not 
found  steadfast  and  faithful  at  their  posts,  they 
must  lose  their  reward.  And  failing  in  readiness 
at  this  last  act  of  Christ's  coming  for  His  saints 
there  would  necessarily  be  entailed  upon  them  a 
peculiar  and  irremediable  nakedness.     Whatever 


LECTURE    XXXVII.    CHAP.    16:12-21.  93 

might  be  left  for  them  on  earth,  it  would  strip 
them  forever  of  all  opportunity  to  share  in  any 
privileges  or  honors  of  the  children  of  the  resur- 
rection. Hence  this  particular  admonition  in- 
terjected at  this  particular  place.  It  is  a  note  of 
indication  that  now  at  any  moment  Christ  is  about 
to  call  for  such  of  His  people  as  yet  may  be  on 
earth.  It  is  a  note  of  instruction  and  direction  to 
keep  themselves  in  strictest  readiness  by  watchful 
expectation  and  careful  severance  from  the  defil- 
ing abominations  around  them.  And  it  is  a  note 
of  warning  that  if  found  unready  their  nakedness 
and  shame  will  be  beyond  remedy,  as  then  the 
whole  matter  will  be  over,  and  the  door  of  admis- 
sion into  the  peculiar  kingdom  of  the  elect  will  be 
closed  forever.  There  is  a  blessedness  for  them 
even  down  amid  these  last  extremities  of  the  judg- 
ment time;  but  it  can  only  be  secured,  as  in  every 
other  case,  by  constant  watchfulness,  prayer,  and 
readiness  for  the  summons  when  it  comes. 

But,  with  this  admonitory  note  from  the  Sav- 
iour, the  narrative  proceeds  as  if  nothing  had  oc- 
curred. So  few  will  be  the  number  of  saints  re- 
maining in  those  days,  so  obscure  their  condition, 
and  so  indifferent  the  world  to  what  happens  to 
them,  that  their  sudden  ereption  to  glory  causes 
no  interruption  to  the  wild  doings  of  the  nations, 
and  produces  not  even  a  ripple  in  the  current  of 
their  movements.  The  mission  of  the  unclean 
spirits  effects  its  purpose.  The  whole  world  is  in 
a  furor  of  enthusiasm  to  conquer  and  dethrone 
the  Lamb,  and  to  crush  out  of  the  earth  every 


94 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


vestige  of  His  authority  and  power.  From  one 
end  of  the  world  to  the  other,  everything  is  alive 
and  bristling  with  this  thought.  The  spirits  of 
demons  have  so  taught  the  nations,  and  they  pro- 
ceed accordingly.  East,  west,  north,  and  south 
the  call  to  battle  sounds ;  and  kings,  nations  and 
armies  are  on  the  march — on  the  march  to  the 
scene  of  conflict — "  to  the  place  which  is  called  in 
Hebrew  Harynageddonr 

Where,  then,  is  Harmageddon  ?  Some  say  it  is 
the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  A  few  years 
ago  some  said  it  was  Sebastopol,  or  the  Crimea. 
Others  think  it  is  France.  Whilst  many  take  it 
as  a  mere  ideal  place,  for  an  ideal  assemblage, 
having  no  existence  in  fact.  To  such  wild,  con- 
tradictory, and  mutually  destructive  notions  are 
men  driven  when  they  once  depart  from  the  letter 
of  what  is  written.  Harmageddon  means  the 
Mount  of  Megiddo,  which  has  also  given  its  name 
to  the  great  plain  of  Jezreel,  which  belts  across 
the  middle  of  the  Holy  Land,  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean to  the  Jordan.  The  name  is  from  a  Hebrew 
root  which  means  to  cut  off^  to  slay ;  and  a  place  of 
slaughter  has  Megiddo  ever  been.  It  is  the  great 
battlefield  of  the  Old  Testament  between  the  The- 
ocracy and  its  various  enemies.  In  Deborah  and 
Barak's  time,  "  the  kings  came  and  fought,  then 
fought  the  kings  of  Canaan  in  Taanach,  by  the 
waters  of  Megiddo.''  (Judges  5  :  19.)  When  the 
good  king  Josiah  fell  before  the  archers  of  Pharaoh 
Necho,  "  he  came  to  fight  in  the  valley  of  Megiddo.'' 
(2  Chron.  35  :  22-24.)     And  where  God's  king,  in 


LECTURE    XXXVII.    CHAP.     16:12-21.  95 

mortal  flesh,  thus  fell  a  victim  to  the  power  of  the 
heathen,  there  God's  King,  in  resurrection  glory, 
shall  revenge  himself  on  His  enemies.  Whether 
we  take  it  as  the  mount  or  the  valley,  it  makes 
no  difierence,  for  the  mount  and  valley  are 
counted  as  one,  each  belonging  to  the  other.  It 
was  the  valley  in  Josiah's  fall,  it  is  the  mount 
in  Messiah's  victory.  But  with  this  gathering  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth  and  their  armies  to  this 
place  this  sixth  bowl  ends.  It  breaks  off  abruptly 
because  it  simply  brings  things  into  readiness  for 
the  final  catastrophe,  which  only  the  seventh  and 
final  bowl  brings  forth. 

"  And  the  seventh  ayigel  poured  out  his  bowl  on  or 
over  the  air  ;  and  there  came  forth  a  voice  out  of  the 
temple  from  the  throne,  saying^  It  is  done."  This  tells 
us  direct  from  the  Judgment-seat  itself  that  here 
the  end  is  reached,  and  that  with  this  outpouring 
the  whole  contents  of  the  wrath  of  God  upon  this 
present  world  are  exhausted.  When  Christ 
yielded  up  His  life  on  the  cross.  He  said :  "  It  is 
finished!"  The  great  sacrifice  was  complete.  It 
was  the  ending  up  of  all  judgment  upon  them 
that  believe,  leaving  nothing  more  of  divine  con- 
demnation to  come  upon  them.  Here  a  similar 
word  is  given ;  for  it  is  the  completion  of  another 
sacrifice,  the  ending  up  of  all  judgment  on  them 
that  believe  not,  but  leaving  nothing  more  of  pro- 
bation, help,  or  hope  for  them. 

The  particular  consequences  of  this  seventh  out- 
pouring are  more  fully  described  in  the  chapters 
which  follow ;  but  the  commotions  and  disasters 
VOL.  III.  64 


96  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

which  it  brings  upon  the  earth  are  here  stated  in 
general,  and  they  are  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  man. 

"  And  there  became  lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thun- 
ders."  These  are  aerial  convulsions.  The  con- 
tents of  this  bowl  are  poured  upon  the  air,  and  the 
first  impressions  are  in  the  air.  The  whole  earth 
is  to  be  affected,  therefore  the  pouring  is  upon  the 
most  universal  and  all-inclosing  element.  There 
have  been  many  atmospheric  commotions  during 
the  progress  of  these  judgment  scenes,  but  here 
they  reach  their  climax  and  consummation,  fulfill- 
ing what  so  many  of  the  prophets  have  spoken 
touching  the  changing  and  folding  up  of  the 
heavens  (Ps.  102 :  25,  26;  Is.  51 :  6),  the  shaking  of 
their  powers  (Matt.  24  :  29;  Heb.  12  :  25),  the  pass- 
ing of  them  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  dissolving 
of  them  with  fire  (2  Peter  3  :  10,  12).  Speaking  of 
this  very  time,  when  "  the  multitude  of  all  the 
nations  fight  against  Ariel,"  Isaiah  says:  "The 
Lord  of  hosts  shall  visit  with  thunder,  and  with 
earthquake,  and  great  noise,  with  storm  and  tem- 
pest, and  the  flame  of  devouring  fire."  (Is.  29  :  6.) 
Of  the  same  did  Asaph  sing:  "  Our  God  shall 
come,  and  shall  not  keep  silence,  a  fire  shall  de- 
vour before  Him,  and  it  shall  be  very  tempestuous 
round  about  Him.  He  shall  call  to  che  heavens 
from  above,  and  to  the  earth,  that  He  may  judge 
his  people."  (Ps.  50  :  3,  4.)  A  world  is  to  be  fin- 
ally ended,  and  these  are  the  signs  and  attendants 
from  above.  But  below  they  are  correspondingly 
terrible. 


LECTURE    XXXVII.    CHAP.    16  :  12-21.  97 

''''And  there  became  a  great  earthquake,  such  as 
became  not  since  there  became  a  man  on  earth,  such  an 
earthquake,  so  great.''  Here  is  the  fulfilment  of 
what  Isaiah  prophesied  concerning  the  arising  of 
the  Lord  "to  shake  terribly  the  earth"  (chapter 
2  :  19,  21).  Here  is  what  Haggai  wrote  about, 
when  he  recorded  the  saying  of  the  Lord  of  hosts : 
"  Yet  once,  and  I  will  shake  the  heavens,  and  the 
earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  dry  land ;  and  I  will 
shake  all  nations  "  (chapter  2  :  3,  4).  The  full  force 
of  this  earthquake,  unprecedented  in  time  for  its 
extent  and  violence,  is  indicated  in  its  eifects.  By 
reason  of  it,  John  says : 

"  The  great  city  became  into  three  'parts,  and  the 
cities  of  the  nations  felV  The  great  city  here  is 
Jerusalem,  for  it  is  specially  distinguished  from 
the  cities  of  the  Gentiles,  which  are  entirely 
ruined.  It  is  only  partially  destroyed,  because 
now  in  part  possessed  and  appropriated  as  the 
Lord's.  (Rev.  11  :  1,  2.)  At  the  resurrection  and 
ascension  of  the  Two  Witnesses,  there  was  a  great 
earthquake,  when  the  tenth  of  the  city  fell  (chap- 
ter 11  :  12,  13).  Here  there  is  a  greater  earth- 
quake, and  a  much  vaster  effect.  This  is  the  time 
when  the  Mount  of  Olives  is  to  cleave  in  two  from 
east  to  west,  "  and  half  of  the  mountain  shall  re- 
move toward  the  north,  and  half  of  it  toward  the 
south,"  leaving  a  very  great  valley  between  the 
two  parts.  (Zech.  14  :  4.)  Such  an  occurrence  must 
necessarily  affect  the  foundation  and  topography 
of  the  city  itself.  The  earthquake  rends  it  into 
three  parts.  The  implication  is,  that  great  chasms 


98  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

divide  it,  and  that  great  damage  occurs  to  it. 
Zechariah  tells  of  a  trichotomy  of  the  land  at  that 
time,  in  which  two  parts  shall  be  cut  off  and  die, 
and  one  part  shall  be  left.  (Zech.  13  :  8,  9.)  If  the 
same  applies  to  the  city,  then  this  dividing  of  it  into 
three  parts  effects  the  destruction  of  two  parts, 
while  only  one  part  remains  standing.  Three 
miraculous  Witnesses  appear  there  in  those  last 
years;  first  Enoch  and  Elijah,  and  then  at  last 
Christ  himself.  Enoch  and  Elijah  are  put  to  death, 
but  Christ  is  living  forever.  So  the  death  of  the 
two  miraculous  Witnesses  is  avenged  on  two- 
thirds  of  the  city,  and  the  one-third,  which  Christ 
has  taken  for  His,  remains  standing,  as  His  power 
and  dominion  stand.  Multitudes  of  the  popula- 
tion doubtless  perish  amid  these  terrible  commo- 
tions ;  but  there  is  a  refuge  provided  for  those  who 
acknowledge  the  Lord  and  call  upon  His  name. 
(Zech.  13:9;  14:  5.) 

But  the  calamity  to  Jerusalem  is  not  so  great  as 
the  effect  of  this  unprecedented  earthquake  upon 
the  cities  of  the  Gentiles.  The  great  city  is  rent 
into  fractions,  but  it  does  not  utterly  fall ;  "  the 
cities  of  the  nations"  are  universally  ruined.  The 
whole  earth  is  shaken  terribly  by  this  bowl  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  we  are  told  of  no  city  in  all 
the  world  that  escapes.  Kome  falls,  and  Paris 
falls,  and  London  falls;  and  wherever  there  are 
cities  of  the  Gentiles  they  fall,  shaken  down,  over- 
whelmed, or  burnt  up,  under  the  terrible  visita- 
tions of  this  great  day  of  God  Almighty.  O  the 
death  and  ruin  which  shall  then  be  wrouofht!     It 


LECTURE    XXXVIl.    CHAP.    16:12-21.  99 

is  the  end  of  this  present  world,  and  this  is  the 
way  it  comes. 

''And  Babylon  the  great  was  remembered  in  the 
presence  of  God  to  give  to  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of 
the  fierceness  of  His  anger,''  The  description  and 
fate  of  great  Babylon  forms  the  subject  of  the 
next  chapters.  There  are  peculiarities  of  detail 
with  reference  to  her  which  need  to  be  more  par- 
ticularly set  forth ;  but  here  is  the  time  and  place 
in  which  all  that  befalls  her  occurs.  There  is  a 
grade  in  the  progress  of  this  woe.  Jerusalem  is 
smitten,  but  only  partially  destroyed,  because 
something  of  the  sacred  is  there.  Then  the  Gen- 
tile cities,  which  stand  a  remove  deeper  down  in 
moral  character,  are  entirely  destroyed,  for  they 
all  belong  to  the  Beast.  And  then  Great  Babylon, 
standing  at  the  base  in  the  scale  of  guilt,  is  made 
to  drink  the  bitterest  draught  of  all,  because  she 
is  the  source  and  centre  of  the  prevailing  abomi- 
nations. 

And  interlinked  with  the  rest  of  the  effects 
wrought  by  these  convulsions  of  an  ending  world, 
the  configuration  of  the  earth  is  changed.  John 
beheld  :  "  And  every  island  fled,  and  mountains  were 
not  found  J'  He  does  not  say  that  islands  ceased 
to  be,  or  no  mountains  are  to  remain  or  exist  after- 
wards ;  but  that  there  is  to  be  a  sudden  recession 
of  the  islands  from  their  present  places,  and  that 
some  mountains  that  now  are  shall  entirely  disap- 
pear. In  other  words,  great  portions  of  the  earth 
as  it  now  stands  will  be  quite  altered  in  their  po- 
sitions and   relations.     The  globe  itself  is  not  to 


1(^0  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

be  annihilated.  The  matter  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed is  not  to  pass  out  of  existence.  But  some 
of  its  elevations  shall  be  depressed,  and  the  pres- 
ent lines  between  sea  and  land  shall  be  greatly 
altered,  making  ready  for  another  climate,  and  for 
a  better  heavens  and  earth.  What  mountains  shall 
sink,  what  shores  be  changed,  and  in  what  direc- 
tions or  to  what  extent  the  islands  shall  be  moved 
we  are  not  told.  The  facts  alone  are  stated. 
There  was  something  of  this  change  under  the 
sixth  seal,  as  the  eflect  of  the  great  earthquake 
there  beheld ;  but  that  was  little  more  than  the 
mere  loosing  of  the  mountains  and  islands  from 
their  places.  (Eev.  6  :  14.)  Here  there  is  an  entire 
disappearance  of  some  mountains,  and  a  jfkeing, 
or  running  away  from  their  old  places,  on  the  part 
of  the  islands.  That  was  the  beginning  of  the 
change;  this  is  the  consummation  of  it.  Desola- 
tion comes  to  all  that  now  is,  and  chaotic  confu- 
sion to  the  whole  face  of  the  world.  Looking 
down  to  this  very  period,  and  to  these  very  occur- 
rences, Jeremiah  says  (3  :  23-26) :  "  I  beheld  the 
earth,  and  lo,  it  was  without  form  and  void.  I 
beheld  the  mountains,  and  lo,  they  trembled,  and 
all  the  hills  moved  lightly," — leaping  and  gliding 
from  their  places.  "  I  beheld,  and  lo,  the  fruitful 
place  was  a  wilderness,  and  all  the  cities  thereof 
were  broken  down  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
and  by  His  fierce  anger."  And  along  with  all  the 
rest  of  these  terrific  and  destructive  convulsions 
comes  also  a  most  disastrous  precipitation  from 
the  sky.     John  says  :  "J.  great  hail,  like  as  a  talent 


LECTURE    XXXVII.     CHAP.    16  :  12-21.       XOl 

[in  weight\fell  out  of  the  heaven  on  the  men  [or  man- 
kind].'" The  Jewish  talent  for  silver-weight  was 
about  115  pounds,  and  that  for  weighing  other 
things  was  about  135  pounds.  The  Egyptian 
talent  was  about  86  pounds,  as  also  the  Greek. 
Some  make  the  Attic  talent  about  56  pounds,  and 
a  talent  was  used  at  Antioch  which  weighed  about 
390  pounds.  Just  which  of  these  is  meant  we 
cannot  say;  but  taking  the  mean  of  all,  or  even 
the  lightest,  we  have  a  weight  equal  to  as  much  as 
a  strong  man  can  conveniently  lift.  Hail  of  a 
pound  in  weight  is  terribly  destructive;  but  this 
would  give  us  hailstones  as  large  as  the  blocks  of 
ice  which  commerce  wagons  about  our  streets. 
Such  masses  falling  upon  houses  would  crush  in 
the  strongest  of  them,  batter  down  walls,  stave 
ships,  and  leave  but  few  retreats  of  safety  for 
human  life  on  the  surface  of  the  world.* 

*  Few  persons  can  form  a  conception  of  the  terrible  character 
of  a  great  hailstorm.  Here  is  an  account  of  one  which  occurred 
at  Constantinople  in  the  month  of  October,  1831,  written  by  one 
who  witnessed  it : 

"After  an  uncommonly  sultry  night,  threatening  clouds 
arose  about  six  in  the  morning,  and  a  noise,  between  thunder 
and  tempest,  and  yet  not  to  be  compared  to  either,  increased 
every  moment,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital,  roused  from 
their  sleep,  awaited  with  anxious  expectation  the  issue  of  this 
threatening  phenomenon.  Their  uncertainty  was  not  of  long 
duration  ;  lumps  of  ice  as  large  as  a  man's  foot,  falling  singly, 
and  then  like  a  thick  shower  of  stones,  which  destroyed  every- 
thing with  which  they  came  in  contact.  The  oldest  persons  do 
not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  such  hailstones.  Some  were 
picked  up  half  an  hour  afterwards  which  weighed  above  a 
pound.     This  dreadful  storm  passed  over  Constantinople  and 


IQ2  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

The  stones  thrown  by  the  Roman  catapults 
against  Jerusalem,  Josephus  says,  were  of  the 
weight  of  a  talent ;  but  these  rugged  ice  masses, 
concreted  in  the  troubled  atmosphere  on  high, 
would  necessarily  come  with  more  violence  than 
Roman  catapults  could  cast  the  same  weight. 
When  the  plague  of  hail  fell  upon  Egypt,  only 
such  lives  suflered  as  were  exposed  in  the  open 
fields  and  highways  (Ex.  9  :  19).  But  it  will  be  in- 
finitely worse  when  this  great  hail  falls.  Think  of 
the  earthquake  which  lays  men's  abodes  in  ruins, 
driving  them  to  the  open  plains,  and  then  this  ter- 
rific hail  coming  upon  them  where  no  shelter  is ! 
What  can  they  do  ?  How  must  they  be  cut  down 
by  this  dreadful  artillery  of  the  heavens ! 

Day  of  anger  !     Day  of  wonder ! 
"When  the  earth  shall  rend  asunder, 
Smote  with  hail,  and  fire,  and  thunder  I 

But  what  is  the  moral  effect?  Do  the  people 
bend,  and  own  their  sins,  and  sue  for  Heaven's  pity 
and  forgiveness  ?  Alas  for  those  in  whom  the 
spirit  of  hell  has  once  taken  firm  root !  E'o  one 
having  the  brand  of  Antichrist  ever  repents.  John 

along  the  Bosphorus,  over  Therapia,  Bojukden,  and  Belgrade; 
and  the  fairest,  nay,  the  only  hope  of  this  heautiful  and  fertile 
tract,  the  vintage,  just  commenced,  was  destroyed  in  a  day  ! 
Animals  of  all  kinds,  and  even  some  persons,  were  killed,  an 
innumerable  number  are  wounded^  and  the  damage  done  to  the 
houses  is  incalculable.  The  force  of  the  falling  masses  of  ice 
was  so  great  that  they  broke  to  atoms  all  the  tiles  on  the  roofs, 
and,  like  musket-balls,  shattered  planks." 

What  would  it  have  been  if  the  ice  masses  had  been  fifty  or 
one  hundred  times  larger  ? 


LECTURE    XXXVII.      CHAP.    16:12-21.         103 

beheld:  ^^And  the  men  blasphemed  God  on  account 
of  the  plague  of  the  hail,  because  the  plague  thereof  is 
exceedingly  great.'"  Such  obstinacy  in  sin  and 
guilt  was  unknown  when  the  world  was  younger. 
When  the  hailstorm  was  heavy  upon  Egypt  there 
was  something  of  relenting.  Pharaoh  confessed 
his  sin,  and  asked  Moses  to  intercede  for  him. 
For  the  moment,  at  least,  he  agreed  to  let  Israel  go. 
But  here  transgressors  have  come  to  the  full. 
They  are  dead-ripe  for  final  judgment.  Antichrist 
has  taught  them  to  curse  God  and  die ;  and  so  they 
curse  and  blaspheme  to  the  last,  unsoftened  and 
unchanged  by  all  the  terribleness  of  an  oncoming 
perdition.  It  is  by  these  plagues  that  their  earthly 
existence  ends,  with  the  whole  economy  of  things 
to  which  they  cling;  but  their  last  words  are 
curses,  and  their  last  breath  is  blasphemy. 

Friends  and  brethren,  I  am  at  a  loss  at  which 
to  wonder  most :  whether  at  the  severity  of  Al- 
mighty God  upon  the  finally  impenitent,  or  at  the 
unconcern,  neglect,  and  hardihood  of  men,  who, 
with  all  this  dreadful  outcome  before  their  eyes, 
still  march  calmly  on  in  the  very  path  which  can 
have  no  other  termination.  O  how  dreadful!  Re- 
treat to  the  Lazar-house  to  refresh  one's  self  with 
the  groans  and  miseries  of  the  wretched,  a  dance 
in  the  chamber  of  death,  the  singing  of  glees 
around  the  coflin  of  a  beloved  and  honored  friend, 
the  making  of  merry  jests  over  the  fresh  grave  of 
one's  own  dear  mother,  would  not  be  half  so  un- 
seemly, so  unfeeling,  and  so  insane,  as  to  go  on  in  a 
life  of  indiflference  and  impenitence,  with  eyes  open 


104  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  ears  informed  of  all  the  horrible  consequences 
which  must  come  of  it!  There  is  but  one  expla- 
nation,— people  do  not  half  believe.  They  profess 
to  receive  and  honor  the  Bible,  but  they  do  not 
credit  what  it  so  plainly  says.  They  would  feel 
indignant  and  resentful  were  we  to  call  them  in- 
fidels, and  yet  they  are  infidels.  They  may  not 
speak  the  infidel's  creed,  but  they  live  it  every  day, 
and  think  well  of  themselves  whilst  they  do  it. 
The  inner  temper  of  their  souls — their  spiritual 
tone — is  infidel.  The  practical  spirit  which  influ- 
ences and  controls  them  is  the  infidel  spirit,  and 
accords  with  the  infidel  reasoning.  Either  they 
do  not  think  at  all,  and  so  reduce  themselves  to 
the  level  of  the  irrational  brute ;  or  their  thinking 
is  secretly,  if  not  confessedly,  tinged  with  the  sus- 
picion that  these  mighty  revelations  are  nothing 
^nt  unsubstantial  speculation  or  doubtful  theory. 
They  have  a  deep  persuasion  of  the  certainty,  reg- 
ularity, and  permanence  of  what  they  call  natural 
laws,  and  have  schooled  themselves  into  such  a 
trust  and  confidence  and  worship  of  Nature,  that 
they  see  no  need,  or  likelihood,  or  possibility  of 
any  other  divinity  or  divine  administrations. 
Thunder,  lightning,  tempests,  plagues,  pestilences, 
famines,  earthquakes,  eclipses,  comets,  at  which 
mankind  once  trembled  as  signs  of  God's  angry 
interference  with  human  affairs,  they  find  so 
largely  explainable  on  natural  principles  that  they 
are  slow  to  admit  that  God  has  anything  to  do  with 
these  things,  or  that  He  is  able  to  use  them  as  His 
weapons  of  judgment.     They  talk  of  God,  but  to 


LECTURE    XXXVII.     CHAP.    16:12-21.         105 

them  He  is  an  impotent  God.  Consciously  or  un- 
consciously, their  souls  are  thus  in  a  condition  of 
skepticism,  which  empties  the  Divine  Word  of  all 
reality  to  them.  They  hear  it,  and  see  what  it 
says,  but  have  a  lingering  feeling  that  it  cannot  be 
true  just  as  it  reads,  and  so  pass  it  by  as  a  dead 
letter. 

0  ye  people  of  earthly  wisdom,  be  not  deceived ! 
Where  there  are  such  effective  laws  as  you  speak 
of,  there  must  needs  be  an  Almighty  Lawgiver 
who  made  them  and  put  them  into  force;  and 
He  who  could  make  them  can  also  unmake  them, 
and  modify  them  as  He  pleases.  Is  efficient  gov- 
ernment any  less  the  administration  of  sover- 
eign power  because  it  acts  through  great,  settled, 
and  well-known  laws?  Is  His  majesty  disabled 
by  having  shown  itself  so  great?  What  is  more 
irrational  than  rationalism?  Is  God  helpless  to 
fulfil  His  word  because  He  in  [N'ature  proves  him- 
self Almighty  ?  Hath  He  made  the  blunder  of 
binding  His  hands  with  His  own  Omnipotence  ? 
Such  would  seem  to  be  the  essence  of  some  men's 
reasoning. 

Be  admonished  then,  dear  hearer,  and  be  not 
deluded  to  your  ruin  by  the  impertinent  indiffer- 
ence and  unwisdom  of  these  evil  times.  Be  sure 
that  God  is  God,  and  that  His  Word  must  stand, 
though  worlds  dissolve.  Now  is  your  golden  op- 
portunity. You  see  what  is  the  end  that  cometh. 
You  see  with  what  forbearance  and  mercy  the 
threatened  thunderstrokes  of  death  are  still  held 
back,  that  men  may  hear  and  fear,  and  turn  to  Him 


106  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  live.  There  is  eternal  security,  if,  with  a  true 
and  honest  heart,  you  will  only  believe  what  is 
written,  and  set  your  soul  to  obey  and  trust  as  He 
counsels  and  directs.  It  may  cost  you  some  sharp 
trials  now,  but  it  will  bring  you  safety  and  salva- 
tion when  the  skeptical  and  blaspheming  world 
goes  down  under  the  fierceness  of  His  just  anger. 
Overwhelmingly  dreadful  as  the  foreshowing  is, 
there  is  no  cause  for  despair  if  you  will  but  take 
warning  now.  Only  ^x  your  trust  in  Jesus,  and 
follow  and  obey  Him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth, 
and  when  His  judgment  strikes,  it  shall  not  harm 
you. 

Though  mountains  from  their  seats  be  hurled 

Down  to  the  deep,  and  buried  there, 
Convulsions  shake  the  solid  world. 

Our  faith  shall  never  yield  to  fear. 


LECTURE  THIRTY-EIGHTH. 

GREAT  BABYLON  —  PROMINENCE  AND  DIFFICULTY  OF  THE  SUB- 
JECT —  THE  TWO  "WOMEN  —  NOT  ROME  ALONE  —  THE  NAME 
CONNECTS  WITH  THE  PRIMAL  APOSTASY  AFTER  THE  FLOOD 
— NIMROD  AND  HIS  INVENTIONS — THE  WORLD'S  INTOXICA- 
TION WITH  THEM  —  THE  HARLOT'S  OWN  DRUNKENNESS 
WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  SAINTS— THE  WATERS  ON  WHICH  SHE 
SITS — THE  BEAST  SHE  RIDES. 


Rev.  17  :  1-17,  (Revised  Text.)  And  there  came  one  of  the  seven 
angels  who  had  the  seven  bowls,  and  talked  with  me,  saying,  Hither,  I 
will  show  thee  the  judgment  of  the  great  harlot  that  sitteth  upon  many 
waters,  with  whom  the  kings  of  the  earth  committed  fornication,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  were  made  drunk  from  the  wine  of  her  for- 
nication. 

And  he  bore  me  away  in  spirit  into  a  wilderness,  and  I  saw  a  woman 
sitting  upon  a  scarlet  beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns.  And  the  woman  was  clothed  in  purple  and  scarlet, 
decked  with  gold  and  precious  stone  and  pearls,  having  a  cup  of  gold 
in  her  hand  full  of  abominations  and  the  unclean  things  of  her  and  of 
the  earth's  fornication,  and  upon  her  forehead  a  name  written,  Mystery, 
Babylon  the  great,  the  mother  of  the  harlots  and  of  the  abominatwns  of 
the  earth. 

And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  from  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  from 
the  blood  of  martyrs  [witnesses]  of  Jesus  :  and  I  wondered  great  won- 
der when  I  saw  her. 

And  the  angel  said  to  me,  Wherefore  wonderest  thou?  I  will  tell 
to  thee  the  mystery  of  the  woman,  and  of  the  beast  that  carrieth  her, 
having  the  seven  beads  and  ten  horns. 

The  beast  which  thou  sawest.  was  and  is  not,  and  is  to  ascend  out  of 
the  abyss,  and  goeth  into  perdition  :  and  they  shall  wonder  who  dwell 
upon  the  earth,  whose  names  are  not  written  upon  the  book  of  life  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  when  they  behold  the  beast,  because  he 
was,  and  is  not,  and  shall  onoe  more  be  here  [or  come  again\. 

(  107  ) 


108  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Here  [is]  the  mind  that  hath  wisdom:  the  seven  heads  are  seven 
mountains  where  the  woman  sitteth  upon  them,  and  are  seven  kings; 
the  five  are  fallen,  the  one  is,  the  other  is  not  yet  come,  and  when  he 
shall  come,  he  must  continue  a  little  time.  And  the  beast  that  was 
and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  out  of  the  seven,  and  goeth 
into  perdition. 

And  the  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest  are  ten  kings  which  have  not 
yet  received  kingdom  ;  but  they  receive  power  as  kings  one  hour  with 
the  beast.  These  have  one  mind,  and  give  their  power  and  authority 
to  the  beast.  These  shall  make  war  with  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb 
shall  conquer  them,  because  he  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings,  and 
they  who  are  with  him,  called  and  chosen  and  faithful. 

And  he  saith  to  me,  The  waters  which  thou  sawest,  where  the  harlot 
sitteth,  are  peoples  and  multitudes  and  nations  and  tongues.  And  the 
ten  horns  which  thou  sawest,  and  the  beast,  these  shall  hate  the  harlot, 
and  shall  make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and  shall  eat  her  flesh,  and 
shall  burn  her  with  fire.  For  God  gave  into  their  hearts  to  do  his  mind, 
and  to  make  one  mind,  and  to  givs  their  kingdom  to  the  beast,  until 
the  words  of  God  shall  be  fulfilled. 

WE  have  already  twice  heard  of  Great  Babylon, 
and  calamity  to  her;  once  in  chapter  14  :  8, 
by  anticipation;  and  once  in  chapter  16  :  19,  where 
her  sins  were  said  to  have  come  into  remem- 
brance, and  the  cup  of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath 
of  God  to  have  been  administered  to  her.  The 
particulars  of  that  visitation,  as  well  as  the  whole 
character  and  relations  of  this  mystic  personage, 
are  given  in  the  chapters  upon  which  we  now 
enter.  As  the  first  reference  was  somewhat  antici- 
pative,  so  these  further  accounts  are  somewhat 
retrogessive,  and  go  back  to  exhibit  in  all  its 
length  and  breadth  what  in  the  previous  chapter 
was  only  synoptically  stated. 

The  subject  itself  is  one  of  great  prominence  in 
the  Apocalypse,  as  in  all  the  prophecies;  but  it 
has  proven  about  as  difficult  as  it  is  conspicuous. 


LECTURE   XXXVIII.    CHAP.    17:1-17.        IQ9 

On  none  of  the  current  methods  of  treating  this 
Book  is  it  possible  to  come  to  any  clear,  consistent, 
and  satisfying  conclusions  with  regard  to  it. 
The  body  of  preterist  expositors  have  found  them- 
selves necessitated  to  take  Great  Babylon  as  mean- 
ing the  city,  the  church,  or  the  ecclesiastical  sys- 
tem of  Rome,  not  so  much  because  the  features  of 
the  record  call  for  it,  or  really  admit  of  it,  when 
fairly  dealt  with,  but  because  unable  on  their 
theory  to  do  any  better.  That  Rome  and  the 
Romish  system  are  involved,  may  readily  be  ad- 
mitted; but  that  this  is  all,  and  that  the  sudden  fall 
of  Great  Babylon  is  simply  the  fall  of  Romanism, 
or  the  utter  destruction  of  the  city  of  Rome,  must 
be  emphatically  denied,  if  the  inspired  portraiture 
is  to  stand  as  it  is  written.  If  we  cannot  find  more 
solid  ground  than  that  on  which  the  Rome  theory 
rests  we  must  needs  consign  the  whole  subject  to 
the  department  of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  and  let 
all  these  tremendous  foreshowings  pass  for  noth- 
ing. Unite  with  me,  then,  dear  friends,  in  pray- 
ing God  to  open  our  understandings,  that  we  may 
not  fail  to  take  in  what  He  really  intends  that  His 
people  should  see  in  these  sacred  visions. 

The  first  thing  which  strikes  me  in  the  study  of 
this  subject,  is  one  which  I  have  nowhere  seen 
duly  noticed,  namely :  the  evident  correlation  and 
contrast  between  the  Woman  here  pictured  and 
another  Woman  described  in  the  twelfth  chapter. 
There,  "  a  great  sign  was  seen  in  the  heaven,  a 
Woman;^'  here,  it  is  remarked,  "  he  bore  me  away 
in  spirit  into  a  wilderness,  and  I  saw  a  Woman,'* 


110  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Both  these  Women  are  mothers;  the  first 
"brought  forth  a  son,  a  male  [neuter,  embracing 
either  sex],  who  is  to  rule  all  the  nations;"  the 
second  "  is  the  mother  of  harlots  and  of  the  abom- 
inations of  the  earth."  Both  are  splendidly 
dressed;  the  first  is  "clothed  with  the  sun."  Her 
raiment  is  light  from  heaven.  The  second  is 
"  clothed  in  purple,  and  scarlet,  decked  with  gold, 
and  precious  stone,  and  pearls."  All  her  orna- 
ments are  from  below,  made  up  of  things  out  of 
the  earth  and  the  sea.  Both  are  very  influential 
in  their  position ;  the  first  has  "  the  moon,"  the 
empress  of  night,  the  powers  of  darkness,  "  under 
her  feet ;"  the  second  "  hath  rule,  or  kingdom, 
upon  the  kings  of  the  earth."  Both  are  sufferers; 
against  the  first  is  the  Dragon,  who  stands  watch- 
ing to  devour  her  child,  and  persecutes  and  pur- 
sues her,  and  drives  her  into  the  wilderness,  and 
sends  out  a  river  to  overwhelm  her,  and  is  at  war 
with  all  her  seed  that  he  can  find;  against  the 
second  are  the  ten  kings,  who  ultimately  hate  her, 
and  make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and  eat  her 
flesh,  and  burn  her  with  fire,  whilst  God  in  His 
strength  judgeth  her,  and  visits  her  with  plague, 
death,  and  utter  destruction.  Both  are  very  con- 
spicuous, and  fill  a  large  space  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  and  in  all  the  administrations  of  divine 
providence  and  judgment.  That  they  are  coun- 
terparts of  each  other  there  can  hardly  be  a  rea- 
sonable doubt.  The  one  is  a  pure  woman,  the 
other  is  a  harlot.  The  first  is  hated  by  the  powers 
on  earth,  the  second  is  loved,  flattered,  and  caressed 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.    17.1-17.        m 

by  them.  Where  the  one  has  sway,  things  are 
heavenly;  where  the  other  lives,  it  is  *' wilder- 
ness.'^ The  one  produces  masculine  nobility, 
which  is  ultimately  caught  away  to  Grod  and  to 
His  throne;  the  other  produces  effeminate  im- 
purity, which  calls  down  the  fierceness  of  the  di- 
vine wrath.  The  one  is  sustained  and  helped  by 
celestial  wings;  the  other  is  supported  and  car- 
ried by  the  Dragon  power, — the  Beast  with  the 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  The  one  has  a  crown 
of  twelve  stars,  wearing  the  patriarchs  and  apos- 
tles as  her  royal  diadem  ;  the  other  has  upon  her 
forehead  the  name  of  the  greatest  destroyer  and 
oppressor  of  the  holy  people,  and  is  drunken  with 
"the  blood  of  prophets  and  of  saints,  and  of  all 
that  have  been  slain  upon  the  earth."  The  one 
finally  comes  out  in  a  heavenly  city,  the  ^ew  Jeru- 
salem, made  up  of  imperishable  jewels,  and  ar- 
rayed in  all  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb ;  the 
other  finally  comes  out  in  a  city  of  this  world's 
superlative  admiration,  which  suddenly  goes  down 
forever  under  the  intense  wrath  of  Heaven,  and 
becomes  the  habitation  of  demons,  and  a  hold  of 
every  unclean  spirit. 

These  two  Women,  thus  related,  and  set  over 
one  against  the  other  as  opposites  and  rivals,  must 
necessarily  be  interpreted  in  the  same  way.  As 
Antichrist  corresponds  to  Christ  as  a  rival  and 
antagonist  of  Christ,  so  Great  Babylon  corre- 
sponds to  the  Woman  that  bears  the  Man-child,  as 
her  rival  and  antagonist. 

By  recalling,  therefore,  who  and  what  is  meant 

VOL.  III.  65 


112  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

by  the  first  Woman,  we  will  be  in  position  to  un* 
clerstand  who  and  what  is  meant  by  the  second. 

Beyond  question,  the  sun-clad  Woman  is  God's 
great  symbol  of  the  visible  Church, — the  Lamb's 
Wife, — the  bone  of  His   bone,  and  flesh  of  His 
flesh,  fashioned  out  of  His  rifted  side  as  the  Second 
Adam,  who  fell  into  the  deep  sleep  of  death  for 
that  purpose.  As  Methodius  taught,  "  The  woman 
seen  in  heaven,  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  adorned 
with  a  crown  of  twelve  stars,  is,  in  the  highest 
and  strictest  sense,  our  Mother.     The  prophets, 
considering  what  is  spoken  of  her,  call  her  Jeru- 
salem, at  other  times  The  Bride,  the  Mount  Sion, 
the  Temple  and  Tabernacle  of  God."     She  is  not 
the  church  of  any  one  period  or  dispensation,  but 
the  entire  Universal  Church  of  all  time,  as  Victo- 
rinus,  the  earliest  commentator  on  this  Book,  held 
and  affirmed,  saying :  "  The  Woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  having  the  moon  under  her  feet,  is  the 
Church  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  of  the  Prophets, 
and  of  the  holy  Apostles  " — that  is,  the  Church 
from  the  days  of  Adam  and  Eve  on  to  the  last 
victory  over  the  worship,  name,  and  mark,  of  the 
final  Antichrist.  What  then  can  this  rival  Woman 
be   but   the   organized  Antichurch,  the  pseudo- 
church,  the  Bride  made  out  of  Satan,  the  univer- 
sal body  and  congregation  of  false-believers  and 
false-worshippers  ?     As  Christ  has  had  a  visible 
Church  in  all  time,  embodying  the  wisdom  and 
spirit  of  heaven,  and  maintaining  the  confession 
of  His  truth  and  worship,  so  has  the  Devil  had  a 
corresponding  following  in  all  time,  embodying 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.    17  :  1-17.       H^ 

the  sensual  and  devilish  wisdom  and  spirit,  and 
maintaining  the  profession  and  teaching  of  Satan's 
lies.  And  as  the  first  Woman  denotes  the  one,  so 
the  second  Woman  denotes  the  other.  The  proofs 
of  this  will  appear  as  we  consider  the  particulars 
of  the  case. 

1.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  this 
Woman  is  her  harlotry.  The  Angel  calls  her  "  The 
Great  Harlot,''  and  she  wears  on  her  forehead  as 
her  name,  "  The  mother  of  the  harlots,  and  of  the 
abominations  of  the  earth."  Harlotry  is  the  stand- 
ing symbol  in  the  word  of  God  for  a  debauched 
worship,  idolatry,  and  false  devotion.  When  people 
worship  for  God  what  is  not  God,  or  give  their 
hearts  to  idols,  or  institute  systems,  doctrines,  rites, 
or  administrations,  to  take  the  place  of  what  God 
has  revealed  and  appointed,  the  Scriptures  call  it 
whoredom,  adultery,  fornication.  (Jer.  3  :  6,  8,  9 ; 
Ez.  16  :  32 ;  Hosea  1  and  2 ;  Eev.  2  :  22.)  The  rea- 
sons are  obvious.  The  breaking  down  of  the  divine 
laws  and  ordinances  necessarily  carries  with  it  the 
dishonor  of  the  marriage  institution,  and  hence 
all  supports  of  godly  chastity  and  pureness.  Ac- 
cordingly all  false  religions  are  ever  attended  with 
lewdness,  even  in  connection  with  their  most  hon- 
ored rites.  The  sacredness  of  marriage  has  no 
place  in  them.  Besides,  the  very  essence  of  the 
divine  law  is,  that  we  love  God  our  Lord  with  all 
the  heart,  mind,  soul,  and  strength.  This  is  Je- 
hovah's due  and  requirement  of  all  that  live. 
Hence  the  bestowal  of  worshipful  affection  on  any 
other  object,  or  the  putting  of  anything  whatever 


11^  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

in  the  place  of  the  true  God,  is,  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  a  great  spiritual  harlotry ;  for  it  is  the 
turning  of  the  soul  from  the  only  legitimate  ob- 
ject of  its  adoration,  to  take  into  its  embrace  what 
has  no  right  to  such  room  and  place.  And  as  this 
Woman  is  a  harlot,  "  the  great  Harlot,"  and  "  the 
mother  of  the  harlots  and  the  abominations  of  the 
earth,"  she  must  needs  be  the  great  embodiment, 
source,  and  representative  of  all  idolatry,  false 
worship,  and  perversion  of  the  word  and  institutes 
of  God.  This  helps  to  determine  her  character  as 
the  rival  and  antagonist  of  the  Woman  clothed 
with  the  sun,  and  makes  her  the  symbol  of  the 
universal  body  of  the  faithless,  just  as  the  sun- 
clad  Woman  is  the  symbol  of  the  universal  body 
and  congregation  of  believers.  She  can  by  no 
means  be  Eome  alone,  whether  Pagan  or  Papal, 
any  more  than  the  sun-clad  Woman  is  the  early 
Church  alone,  or  Protestants  alone.  There  were 
believers  and  saints  in  the  4000  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  so  there  were  idolaters  and  per- 
verters  of  the  institutes  of  God  in  plentiful  abun- 
dance before  there  were  Popes  or  Roman  emper- 
ors. And  as  the  pure  Woman  is  made  up  of  the 
whole  congregation  of  the  fsiithf  ul  from  the  begin- 
ning, so  must  this  great  Harlot  be  made  up  of  all 
the  faithless  from  the  beginning. 

2.  This  conclusion  is  rendered  the  more  neces- 
sary by  the  name  which  this  Woman  has  written 
upon  her  forehead.  How  could  she  be  "  the  mother 
of  the  harlots  and  of  the  abominations  of  the  earth" 
if  her  existence  does  not  date  back  to,  and  above 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.     17:1-17.      II5 

all  include,  the  great  harlotries  and  abominations 
which  preceded  both  the  Popes  and  the  Roman 
emperors?  Besides,  we  have  here  the  mother- 
hood of  various  harlots,  or  systems  and  economies 
of  harlotry  and  abominations  of  the  earth.  If 
Pagan  Rome  is  to  be  understood,  that  was  but  one 
individual  system.  If  Papal  Rome  is  to  be  under- 
stood, that  again  is  but  one  individual  system. 
The  implication  would  thus  be  that  the  earth  had 
no  systems  of  harlotry  or  abominations  but  the 
one  found  in  Pagan  or  Papal  Rome,  and  this 
mother  of  the  harlots  would  thus  have  no  children 
to  show !  The  record  is  that  she  is  herself  the 
great  original  of  all  harlotries  and  abominations 
of  the  earth,  that  many  others  have  sprung  from 
her,  and  that  all  the  harlotries  of  time  have  her 
for  their  primal  representative  and  mother.  The 
imagery,  therefore,  goes  back  to  the  beginnings, 
out  of  which  all  false  systems,  and  false  worships, 
and  abominations  of  the  earth  have  come. 

3.  Accordingly,  also,  we  have  in  the  very  front 
of  this  Woman^s  name  a  designation  which  carries 
us  back  to  the  commencement  of  the  whole  ill- 
condition  of  things  in  this  present  world.  Rome 
never  was  "Babylon  "  in  the  sense  of  being  "  the 
mother  of  the  harlots  and  the  abominations  of  the 
earth."  Her  place  in  the  chart  of  time  renders 
that  impossible ;  just  as  impossible  as  that  some 
Sarah  of  to-day  should  be  tlie  mother  of  the  patri- 
arch Isaac,  and  so  of  the  Jewish  race.  Neither 
was  the  Babylon  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  day  '*  the 
mother  of  the  harlots  and  the  abominations  of  the 


116  THE    Ai'OCALTPSE. 

earth,"  and  for  the  same  reason.  It  comes  too 
late.  We  must  go  further  back,  and  much  nearer 
to  the  landing  of  the  Ark  on  Ararat,  for  such  a 
beginning  and  motherhood.  But  when  we  search 
for  it  we  find  it,  and  find  it  under  the  very  name 
which  this  mother  of  all  harlots  and  abominations 
of  the  earth  bears  written  on  her  forehead.  The 
tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  of  Genesis  tell  the 
story. 

Turning  to  these  chapters  of  national  origins, 
we  learn  that  the  beginning  of  the  kingdom  of  Nirnrod, 
the  grandson  of  Ham,  was  Bab-el,  or  Babylon, 
in  the  land  of  Shinar,  whither  the  then  inhabi- 
tants of  the  earth,  who  were  as  yet  of  one  language 
and  one  speech,  journeyed  together  from  the  East. 
The  implication  is,  that  they  came  thither  under 
the  leadership  of  Nimrod,  whose  name  means  a 
rebellious  panther^  and  that  under  him  began  that 
first  great  w^ork  of  rebellion  against  God  which 
brought  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  inaugurated 
the  original  of  all  the  subsequent  harlotries  and 
abominations  of  mankind.  Against  the  command 
and  known  intent  of  the  Almighty,  it  was  there 
undertaken  to  "  build  a  city  and  a  tower  whose 
top  might  reach  unto  heaven,"  and  to  make  them- 
selves a  name  that  they  might  not  be  scattered 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  appears, 
also,  that  from  the  hunting  and  slaying  of  wild 
beasts,  and  with  the  armed  forces  grouped  around 
him  in  that  business,  Nimrod  betook  himself  to 
the  subjugation  and  enslavement  of  men,  compel- 
ling them  into  his  service  and  daring  schemes. 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.     CHAP.    17:1-17.         H? 

Thus  he  "  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  iuthe  earth, '^ 
the  organizer  of  an  arbitrary  imperialism  over 
against  the  patriarchal  order  and  the  divine  insti- 
tutes. The  Arab  records  tell  us  that  he  was  the 
first  king,  and  thus  the  beginner  of  all  kingcraft 
and  tyranny  which  have  since  so  much  oppressed 
the  world.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  professed  to 
have  seen  a  golden  crown  in  the  sky,  that  he  had  one 
made  like  it,  and  that  he  put  it  on  his  own  head, 
and  thus  claimed  to  rule  in  the  name  and  as  the 
earthly  impersonation  of  the  powers  of  the  sky, 
either  as  Orion  or  the  Sun. 

The  Bible  says  that  it  was  further  arranged  for 
the  people  to  make  for  themselves  "  a  name,''— a 
Sem,  token,  sign,  banner,  ensign,  or  mark  of  con- 
federation, fellowship,  and  organized  unity,  as  an 
undivided  people,  lest  they  should  become  dis- 
persed over  the  earth  into  separate  societies. 
(Compare  Jer.  13  :  11;  33  :  9;  Ezek.  39  :  13;  Zeph. 
3  :  20.)  Against  God  they  had  determined  to  hold 
together,  and  they  wished  to  have  a  badge,  stand- 
ard, something  by  which  they  could  be  known, 
and  in  which  they  could  all  glory  and  rejoice  as 
the  centre  and  crown  of  their  unity.  That  Sem, 
or  Sema,  was  to  be  a  mark  of  consolidated  great- 
ness, a  loftiness  and  pride  to  them ;  that  is,  in  the 
language  of  the  time,  a  Sema-Bama,  Thus  we 
have  the  name  of  the  mythic  Semiramis,  the  Dove- 
Goddess,  which  was  the  ensign  of  all  the  Assyrian 
princes,  and  which  figures  so  largely  as  Ashtaroth, 
Astarte,  the  heavenly  Aphrodite,  and  Venus. 
Semiramis  is  said  to  have  been  the  wife  of  Nim- 


118  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

rod ;  so  that  the  Sem^  or  token,  of  the  Nimrodic 
coiifederatiou  was  probably  the  image  of  his  wife, 
with  a  dove  upon  her  head,  with  wings  spread 
like  the  horns  of  the  new  moon.  This,  in  the 
language  of  the  time,  would  be  called  Sema-Mama, 
because  the  great  Sent,  name,  or  token,  of  the 
combination  against  being  scattered  abroad.  The 
symbol  of  such  a  name  or  confederation  would 
naturally  and  almost  necessarily  take  the  place  of 
a  god,  and  become  the  holy  mother,  the  great 
heavenly  protectress,  the  giver  of  greatness  and 
prosperity  to  those  rallying  under  it. 

So  again,  Nimrod  called  his  first  and  capital 
city  Bab-el,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  time, 
means  The  Gale  of  God;  of  course  not  the  God  of 
Noah  and  Shem,  for  the  whole  proceeding  was  in 
known  and  intended  antagonism  to  the  true  God 
and  His  will  and  commands.  Hebraistically,  and 
by  way  of  accommodation  to  the  judgment  which 
Jehovah  there  inflicted.  Babel  is  made  significant 
of  confusion  (Gen.  11 :  9),  but  in  the  original  ap- 
plication of  the  name  it  means  The  Gale  of  God. 
Thus,  in  the  very  name  of  the  place,  we  have  the 
intimation  and  proof  that  these  Nimrodic  proceed- 
ings were  not  only  the  organization  of  a  new  and 
oppressive  style  of  government,  but  with  it,  as  an 
essential  part  of  it,  the  inauguration  of  a  new  and 
idolatrous  religion,  the  parent  apostasy  of  the 
post-diluvian  world. 

The  Bible  says  that  Mmrod  was  a  mighty  hunter 
before  the  Lord.  The  Targum  of  Jonathan  inter- 
prets this  to  mean  that  he  was  a  mighty  rebel  before 


LBCTlj  RE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.   17  :  1-17.        II9 

the  Lord,  the  mightiest  rebel  before  the  Lord  that  ever 
loas  in  the  earth.  The  Jerusalem  Targum  reads  it 
that  he  was  mighty  in  sin  before  the  Lord,  a  hunter 
of  the  sons  of  men,  exhorting  them  to  leave  the 
judgments  of  Shem  and  adhere  to  the  judgments 
of  Mmrod.  Hence  it  was  the  proverb  concerning 
every  notorious  adventurer  in  wickedness  and  op- 
pression, As  the  mighty  Mmrod  in  rebellion  and 
sin  before  God.  Jarchi  accordingly  understands 
the  record  to  be,  that  Mmrod  was  a  most  brazen 
offender,  who  did  not  fear  or  hesitate  to  withstand 
God  to  his  very  face.  And  every  intimation  con- 
cerning him  shows  that  he  was  the  Heaven-defy- 
ing founder  of  a  new  system  of  rule  and  worship, 
instituting  a  government  by  brute  force  and 
earthly  wisdom  and  policy,  and  a  religion  which 
quite  abolished  the  true  God,  and  set  men  to  the 
adoration  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  imperso- 
nated in  himself,  wife,  relatives,  and  chief  con soci- 
ates,  and  represented  in  the  idol  standards  of  his 
kingdom. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  idolatry  was  the 
gradual  growth  of  well-disposed  but  unenlightened 
human  thinking.  Its  rise  was  sudden.  It  was 
conceived  in  intentional  rebellion.  It  was  the  in- 
vention of  a  proud  and  tyrannous  ambition  at  war 
with  Jehovah's  commands.  It  was  brought  into 
being  to  counteract  the  will  and  worship  of  the 
true  and  known  God.  It  was  the  creature  and 
handmaid  of  power  for  the  deification  of  ''  the  lust 
of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of 
life"  in  the  place  of  the  Creator.     And  it  origi- 


220  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

nated  with  old  Babylon,  and  Babylon's  first  king, 
the  great  rebel  Mmrod,  that  very  Bar-Chus  (son 
of  Ciish),  or  Bacchus^  who  figures  among  the  Greek 
and  Roman  gods  as  the  great  overflowing,  enliven- 
ing, healing,  and  directing  power.  It  is  also  a  fact 
that  all  the  Pagan  mythologies  and  idolatrous  devo- 
tions the  world  over,  whatever  their  diversities, 
show  a  oneness  of  character,  and  an  underlying  like- 
ness which  proves  that  they  are  from  one  original 
source,  and  but  modifications  of  one  and  the  same 
primal  invention,  traceable  to  old  Babylon  and  the 
Nimrodic  plan  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  God 
of  Noah.  The  original  design  was  thwarted  by  the 
confusion  of  tongues.  Contrary  to  their  oaths  to 
the  Dove-goddess  of  their  standards,  the  people 
were  obliged  to  disperse  and  leave  off"  the  building 
of  their  tower.  But  the  charming  novelties  which 
Nimrod  taught  them  were  not  lost.  The  seeds  of 
the  fascinating  invention  went  with  the  dispersion, 
planting  themselves  in  every  new  settlement,  and 
growing  ever  fresh  crops  as  the  streams  of  hu- 
manity ran  on  amid  the  centuries,  but  ever  re- 
producing the  likeness  of  the  original  mother. 
Whatever  changes  or  additions  came,  it  still  was 
old  Babylon,  which  ever  abides,  potent  through  all 
the  ages,  and  known  to  the  judgment  angels  as 
^'Babylon  the  great,  the  mother  of  the  harlots  and  of 
the  abominations  of  the  earth.'' 

4.  It  is  further  said  of  this  Woman  that  "  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  were  made  drunk  from 
the  wine  of  her  fornication."  This  is  not  true  of 
Rome,  Pagan  or  Papal ;  for  before  and  beyond 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.     17:1-17.         |21 

either,  the  earth  had  a  hundredfold  more  inhabit- 
ants untouched  and  uninfluenced  by  one  or  the  other 
than  ever  were  under  the  tutorage  of  both  of  them 
together.  To  talk  of  the  Roman  earth"  in  such 
a  description  is  worse  than  impertinence.  "  The 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  "  are  the  inhabiiants  of  the 
earth,  and  the  people  of  the  generations  before 
Rome,  and  where  Rome  has  never  reached,  as 
well  as  under  Rome.  The  wine  of  old  Babylon's 
fornication  was  a  debauching  system  of  idol  wor- 
ship and  carnal  self-exaltation,  over  against  the 
revelations  and  institutes  of  Jehovah.  It  was 
already  bottled  and  labelled  before  the  first  disper- 
sion. It  went  with  that  dispersion  into  every 
country  and  nation  under  heaven.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  find  it  to  this  day  among  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  aftecting  if  not  controlling  their 
thinking,  their  policies,  their  faith,  and  their  wor- 
ship. Not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  population 
of  the  earth  at  this  hour  are  Pagan  idolaters, 
drivelling  under  the  same  old  intoxication  which 
came  forth  from  Nimrod  and  Babylon ;  whilst  the 
great  body  of  the  other  third  is  either  Moharame^ 
dan.  Catholic,  Jewish,  infidel,  or  adherents  of 
some  tainted  and  antichristian  faith  and  worship. 
Nor  is  there  a  kingdom  or  government  on  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth  at  this  hour  which  does 
not  embody  and  exhibit  more  of  the  spirit  and 
rebellion  of  Nimrod  than  of  the  spirit,  command- 
ments, and  inculcations  of  God.  All  the  kings  of 
the  earth  and  all  the  governments  under  heaven 
have  more  or  less  joined  in  the  uncleanness  and 


222  'fHE    APOCALYPSE. 

fornication  of  that  same  old  Babylonian  Harlot, 
who  has  defiled  every  spot  and  nook  of  the  whole 
inhabited  world,  notwithstanding  that  God  from 
the  beginning  set  the  seal  of  His  wrath  upon  it. 
The  Jewish  whoredoms,  and  the  Papal  whore- 
doms, and  the  Mohammedan  whoredoms,  and  the 
whoredoms  of  all  perverted  Christian  religionists, 
though  not  entirely  letting  go  the  confession 
of  the  one  only  God,  are  still  in  essence  the  same 
old  harlotry  which  first  found  place  and  embodi- 
ment on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  It  is  the 
same  old  Babylon,  and  her  harlot  daughters,  bear- 
ing rule  or  kingdom  upon  the  dominions  of  the 
earth,  and  intoxicating  the  inhabitants  thereof  out 
of  the  wine  of  her  fornication. 

The  cup  held  out  is  golden.  To  the  sensual  and 
carnal  heart  and  imagination  the  world's  religion 
and  progress  is  something  bright  and  glorious,  the 
glittering  fulness  of  good  and  blessing.  But  in 
that  shining  cup  is  only  abomination  and  unclean- 
ness — spiritual  prostitution — nothing  but  spiritual 
prostitution. 

The  cup  is  one ;  and  in  all  the  varied  systems  of 
fiilse  faith  and  false  worship  which  taint  our  world 
there  is  held  out  and  received  but  one  and  the  same 
essence,  and  that  essence  is  the  harlotry  of  old 
Babylon.  It  is  most  direct  in  Paganism ;  but  it  is  in 
Mohammedanism,  in  Papism,  in  the  degenerate 
Catholicism  of  the  Eastern  churches,  and  in  all  the 
heretical  isms,  infidelities,  and  mere  goodishnesses 
which  afilict  our  Protestant  Christianity  as  well. 
So  true  is  it  that  Great  Babylon,  the  mother  of  the 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.  CHAP.    17:1-17.       123 

harlots  and  of  the  abominations  of  the  earth,  hath 
made  the  inhabitant.^  of  the  earth  drunk  with  the 
wine  of  her  fornication. 

5.  This  Woman  is  also  herself  drunken  — 
"  drunken  from  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  from 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  or  witnesses  of  Jesus." 
"  In  her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets,  and  of 
saints,  and  of  all  that  have  been  slain  [as  martyrs] 
upon  the  earth."  This  is  proof  positive  that  the 
Great  Harlot  is  not  Papal  Rome  only,  for  all  the 
prophets  were  dead  hundreds  of  years  before  the 
rise  of  the  Papacy;  and  myriads  on  myriads  of 
God's  true  people  died  as  martyrs  to  the  faith  ere 
ever  there  was  a  Pope  or  a  Papal  hierarchy.  The 
same  is  proof  positive  that  she  is  not  Pagan  Rome 
alone;  for  the  old  prophets  were  dead  or  gone 
before  either  Caesar  lived,  or  ever  Romulus  was 
born ;  and  great  hosts  of  martyrs  suffered  before 
Rome  was  at  all.  Drunken  as  the  Romish  power 
made  itself  upon  the  blood  of  the  witnesses  of 
Jesus,  Roman  government  is  not  chargeable  with 
the  shedding  of  all  the  martyr  blood  that  has 
flowed  upon  the  earth.  It  is,  however,  very  certain, 
and  beyond  dispute,  that  all  the  persecution  and 
slaying  of  saints,  and  prophets,  and  witnesses  for 
God  that  have  ever  occurred  upon  earth,  past  or 
present,  ancient  or  modern,  stand  charged  against 
the  mystic  kingdom  of  idolaters,  false  religionists, 
and  such  as  accepted  fellowship  with  spiritual  har- 
lotry. Persecution  of  God's  prophets  or  people 
is  itself  a  mark  and  evidence  of  spiritual  whore- 
dom.    It  shows  alienation  from  God  and  His  true 


124  THE    APOC  ALl  I  SE. 

worship.  And  wherever  such  presentation  finds 
place,  or  saints  are  sacrificed  for  their  faith,  there 
this  great  Harlot  is  in  living  and  visible  force  and 
presence,  whether  among  Pagans  or  Jews,  Mo- 
hammedans or  Christians,  Catholics  or  Protestants. 
It  is  the  old  Nimrod  over  again,  tyrannously  en- 
forcing his  murderous  will  against  the  will  and 
commands  of  God. 

6.  Again,  this  mystic  Woman  sits  upon  many 
waters,  which  waters  the  angel  says  "  are  peoples, 
and  multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues."  There 
is  a  vastness  and  universality  in  these  terms,  and 
in  the  extent  of  these  symbolic  waters,  which  ill 
accords  with  the  extent  of  the  Papal  dominion. 
Though  extending  over  many  peoples,  multitudes, 
nations,  and  tongues,  there  are  many,  many  more 
peoples,  and  far  greater  multitudes,  and  numbers 
of  nations,  and  tongues,  over  which  the  hierarchy 
of  Rome  has  no  control,  whose  interest  and  sym- 
pathy she  does  not  possess,  and  on  whom  she  can- 
not lean  for  support.  So  with  regard  to  Pagan 
Eome,  there  were  peoples,  and  multitudes,  and 
nations,  and  tongues,  never  within  the  territory 
of  the  Csesars,  and  many  indeed  of  whom  the 
Csssars  had  no  knowledge.  Giving  the  words  the 
latitude  which  properly  belongs  to  such  a  descrip- 
tion as  this,  the  masses  of  the  earth's  population, 
not  only  of  one  period,  but  of  all  periods  since 
nations  came  into  being,  would  seem  to  be  the 
conception.  And  it  is  only  when  we  understand 
this  mystic  Harlot  as  the  whole  body  of  organized 
alienation  from  God,  as  in  heathenism,  false  re- 


LECTURE    XXX  VI     1     CHAP.    17:1-17.       125 

ligion,  and  spiritual  prostitution,  that  we  find  an 
object  coextensive  in  time  and  territory  vs^ith  the 
"  peoples,  and  multitudes,  and  nations,  and 
tongues,''  which  make  up  the  seat,  dependence, 
and  support  of  this  great  Harlot.  At  one  period  or 
another  she  has  been  found  sitting  on  every  people, 
and  nation,  and  tongue,  since  the  tongues  or  mul- 
titudes of  men  have  been  sundered. 

7.  John  further  saw  this  Woman  sitting  upon  a 
scarlet  Beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  This  Beast  is  the  same 
described  in  chapter  13.  He  is  referred  to  here, 
not  so  much  to  make  us  better  acquainted  with 
him,  as  to  give  us  a  full  understanding  of  the 
Great  Harlot  and  her  relationships.  The  "  wis- 
dom "  or  inner  sense  and  meaning  of  the  presen- 
tation is,  that  "  the  seven  heads  are  seven  moun- 
tains, where  the  Woman  sitteth  upon  them,  and 
are  seven  kings."  These  are  the  words  which  are 
supposed  to  fix  the  application  of  the  picture  to 
the  city  of  Kome,  as  Rome  is  called  a  city  of  seven 
hills.  But  a  flimsier  basis  for  such  a  controlling 
and  all-conditioning  conclusion  is  perhaps  no- 
where to  be  found.  The  seven  hills  of  the  city  of 
Rome,  to  begin  with,  are  not  mountains,  as  every 
one  who  has  been  there  can  testify;  and  if  they 
were,  they  are  not  more  characteristic  of  the  sit- 
uation of  Rome  than  the  seven  hills  are  charac- 
teristic of  Jerusalem.  But  the  taking  of  them  as 
literal  hills  or  mountains  at  all  is  founded  upon  a 
total  misreading  of  the  angel's  words. 

A  mountain,  or  prominent  elevation  on  the  sur- 


126  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

face  of  the  earth,  is  one  of  the  common  scriptural 
images,  symbols,  or  representatives  of  a  kingdom, 
regal  dominion,  empire,  or  established  authority. 
So  David,  speaking  of  the  vicissitudes  which  he 
experienced  as  the  king  of  Israel,  says:  "Lord, 
by  Thy  favor  Thou  didst  make  my  mountain  to 
stand  strong  " — margin,  "  settled  strength  for  my 
mountain;'^  meaning  his  kingdom  and  dominion. 
(Ps.  30  :  7.)  So  the  Lord  in  His  threat  against  the 
throne  and  power  of  Babylon  said:  "  I  am  against 
thee,  O  destroying  mountain,  which  destroyest  all 
the  earth ;  and  I  will  stretch  out  mine  hand  upon 
thee,  and  will  roll  thee  down  from  the  rocks,  and 
will  make  thee  a  burnt  mountain,"  (Jer.  51  :  25.) 
So  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  is  likened  to  '*a 
stone,  which  became  a  great  mountain,  and  filled 
the  whole  earth."  (Dan.  2  :  35.)  And  this  is  ex- 
actly the  sense  in  which  the  angel  uses  the  word 
here,  as  he  himself  tells  us.  He  does  not  say 
"  the  seven  heads  are  seven  mountains,  where  the 
Woman  sitteth  upon  them,"  and  there  leave  off; 
but  he  adds  immediately,  "  and  they  are  seven  kings,'' 
or  personified  kingdoms.  The  mountains,  then,  are 
not  piles  of  material  rocks  and  earth  at  all,  but 
royal  or  imperial  powers,  declared  to  be  such  by 
the  angel  himself.  The  description,  therefore,  so 
far  from  fixing  the  application  to  the  Papacy,  or 
to  the  city  of  Rome,  decisively  settles  that  it  can- 
not possibly  apply  to  either,  for  neither  has  seven 
such  mountains.  The  late  Albert  Barnes  has 
written  in  his  Notes  that  "all  respectable  inter- 
preters agree  that  it  refers  to  Rome;  either  Pagan, 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.    17   :   1-17.       127 

Christian,  or  Papal/'  Of  course  he  is  one  of  the 
"  respectable  interpreters,"  but  then  he  should  be 
able  to  tell  which  of  the  objects  he  names  it  is,  for 
it  cannot  be  all  three.  Most  people  assign  Dr.  E. 
W.  Hengstenberg,  the  great  Berlin  professor, 
a  place  among  "  respectable  interpreters,"  but 
Hengstenberg  says  Rome  cannot  possibly  be 
meant  by  these  seven  heads.  The  angel  says  they 
are  seven  regal  mountains,  seven  kings,  seven 
great  ruling  powers.  Eome  Papal  cannot  be 
meant,  for  Rome  Papal  has  no  such  count  of  seven 
regal  powers.  Rome  Christian  cannot  be  meant, 
for  Rome  Christian,  as  distinguished  from  Rome 
Papal,  never  supported  and  carried  the  great  Har- 
lot in  any  possible  sense,  and  could  not  without 
ceasing  to  be  Christian.  Rome  Pagan  cannot  be 
meant,  for  Rome  Pagan  ceased  with  the  conver- 
sion of  the  throne,  and  no  count  of  emperors  or 
kings  can  be  found  in  it  to  "  respectably  "  fill  out 
the  angeFs  description.  The  succession  of  the 
forms  of  administration,  enumerated  as  Kings, 
Consuls,  Dictators,  Decemvirs,  Military  Tribunes,  and 
Emperors,  were  not  seven  kings  or  regal  moun- 
tains. Prior  to  the  empire  most  of  these  admin- 
istrations were  less  than  anthills  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  and  furnished  rather  slender  ponies  for 
the  great  purple-clad  and  pearl-decked  mother  of 
harlots  to  ride  on  in  her  majesty.  Rome  surely 
comes  into  the  count  of  these  seven  mountains  of 
empire ;  but  to  make  Rome  the  whole  seven,  in- 
cluding also  the  eighth,  requires  a  good  deal  more 
"respectability"  of  interpretation  in  that  line 
VOL.  III.  66 


228  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

than  has  thus  far  appeared.  Barnes  is  sure  the 
whole  thing  applies  to  Eome  because  this  Woman 
"  hath  rule  or  kingdom  upon  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  and  there  was  no  other  empire  on  the  earth 
to  which  this  could  be  properly  applied."  But 
this  assumes  that  the  Woman  is  an  empire,  for 
which  there  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence.  The 
Woman  is  not  an  empire  any  more  than  the  Church 
of  Christ  is  an  empire.  She  rides  upon  empires, 
kings,  and  powers  of  the  world,  and  inspires,  leads, 
and  controls  them ;  but  she  herself  is  not  one  of 
them,  and  is  above  all  of  them,  so  that  they  court 
her,  and  are  bewitched  and  governed  by  her — 
governed,  not  with  the  reins  of  empire,  but  with 
the  lure  of  her  fornication.  This  Woman  is  longer- 
lived  than  any  one  empire.  We  have  seen  that 
she  began  with  !Nimrod,  bears  the  name  of  Baby- 
lon, and  is  not  destroyed  until  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. The  seven  imperial  mountains  on  which 
she  rides  must  therefore  fill  up  the  whole  interval ; 
or  there  was  a  time,  and  the  most  of  her  history, 
when  she  did  not  ride  at  all,  which  is  not  the  fact. 
Seven  is  itself  the  number  of  fulness,  which  in- 
cludes the  whole  of  its  kind.  The  reference  here 
is  to  kings,  to  mountains  of  temporal  dominion, 
to  empires.  It  must  therefore  take  in  all  of  them. 
Aud  when  men  once  get  over  their  "  respectabil- 
ity," and  rise  to  the  height  and  range  of  the  in- 
terpreting angel's  view  of  things,  they  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  identifying  the  mountains,  or  the 
times  to  which  they  belong. 

Of  these  seven  regal  mountains,  John  was  told 


LECTURE    XXXVIII.    CHAP.    17:1-17.        129 

"  the  five  are  fallen^''  dead,  passed  away,  their  day 
over ;  "  the  one  is,'"  that  is,  was  standing,  at  that 
moment,  was  then  in  sway  and  power;  "  the  other 
is  not  yet  come,  and  when  he  shall  come,  he  must  con- 
tinue a  little  time  J'  What  regal  mountain,  then,  was 
in  power  at  the  time  John  wrote?  There  can 
be  no  question  on  that  point ;  it  was  the  Roman 
empire.  Thus,  then,  we  ascertain  and  identify  the 
sixth  in  the  list,  which  shows  what  sort  of  kings 
the  angel  meant.  Of  the  same  class  with  this,  and 
belonging  to  the  same  category,  there  are  five 
others — five  which  had  then  already  ran  their 
course  and  passed  away.  But  what  five  imperial 
mountains  like  Rome  had  been  and  gone,  up  to 
that  time?  Is  history  so  obscure  as  not  to  tell  us 
with  unmistakable  certainty?  Preceding  Rome 
the  world  had  but  five  great  names  or  nationalities 
answering  to  imperial  Rome,  and  those  scarce  a 
schoolboy  ought  to  miss.  They  are  Greece,  Persia, 
Babylon,  Assyria,  and  Egypt;  no  more,  and  no 
less.  And  these  all  were  imperial  powers  like 
Rome.  Here,  then,  are  six  of  these  regal  moun- 
tains; the  seventh  is  not  yet  come.  When 
it  comes  it  is  to  endure  but  a  short  time.  This 
implies  that  each  of  the  others  continues  a 
long  time;  and  so,  again,  could  not  mean  the  die 
tators,  decemvirs,  and  military  tribunes  of  th(ir 
early  history  of  Rome,  for  some  of  them  lasted  but 
a  year  or  two.  Thus,  then,  by  the  clearest,  most 
direct,  and  most  natural  signification  of  the  words 
of  the  record,  we  are  brought  to  the  identification 
of  these  seven  mountain  kings  as  the  seven  great 
world-powers,  which  stretch  from  the  begiuukig 


130  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  our  present  world  to  the  eud  of  it.  Daniel 
makes  the  number  less;  but  he  started  with  his 
own  times,  and  looked  only  down  the  stream. 
Here  the  account  looks  backward  as  well  as  for- 
ward. That  which  is  first  in  Daniel  is  the  third 
here,  and  that  which  is  the  sixth  here  is  the  fourth 
in  Daniel.  Only  in  the  commencing  point  is  there 
any  difference.  The  visions  of  Daniel  and  the 
visions  of  John  are  from  the  same  Divine  Mind, 
and  they  perfectly  harmonize,  only  that  the  latest 
are  the  amplest. 

By  these  seven  great  powers  then,  filling  up  the 
whole  interval  of  this  world's  history,  this  great 
Harlot  is  said  to  be  carried.  On  these  she  rides, 
according  to  the  vision.  It  is  not  upon  one  alone, 
nor  upon  any  particular  number  of  them,  but  upon 
all  of  them,  the  whole  seven-headed  Beast,  that 
she  sits.  These  seven  powers,  each  and  all,  sup- 
port the  Woman  as  their  joy  and  pride ;  and  she 
accepts  and  uses  them,  and  sways  their  adminis- 
trations, and  rides  in  glory  by  means  of  them. 
They  are  her  devotees,  lovers,  and  most  humble 
servants ;  and  she  is  their  patronizing  and  most 
noble  lady,  with  a  mutuality  of  favors  and  inter- 
communion belonging  to  her  designation.  This 
is  the  picture  as  explained  by  the  angel.  But,  to 
say  that  the  Romish  Papacy  was  thus  carried, 
nurtured,  and  sustained  by  the  ancient  empires  of 
Greece,  Persia,  Babylon,  Assyria,  and  Egypt, 
would  be  a  great  lie  on  history.  It  was  not  so.  In 
the  nature  of  things  it  could  not  be  so.  By  no 
means  then  can  this  Harlot  be  the  Papacy  alone, 
as  maintained  by  all  ^^respectable  interpreters." 


LECTURE   XXXVIII.    C  H  A  P.    17  :  1  -  17.       131 

Furthermore,  it  is  a  matter  of  fact,  that  as  surely 
as  Rome  in  John's  day,  and  Greece,  Persia,  Bab- 
ylon, Assyria,  and  Egypt,  before  Rome,  existed 
and  bore  sway  on  earth  as  regal  mountains,  so 
surely  and  conspicuously  were  they  each  and  all 
ridden  by  this  great  Harlot.  They  were  each  and 
all  the  lovers,  supporters,  and  defenders  of  organ- 
ized falsehood  in  religion,  the  patrons  of  idolatry, 
the  foster  friends  of  all  manner  of  spiritual  har- 
lotry. Nimrod,  the  hunter  of  the  sons  of  men 
and  author  of  despotic  government,  established 
his  idolatrous  inventions  as  the  crown  and  glory 
of  his  empire,  and  intertwined  the  worship  of 
idols  with  the  standards  of  his  power.  It  was  the 
same  with  Egypt,  whose  colossal  remains,  un- 
fading paintings,  and  mummy  scrolls  confirm  the 
Scripture  portraitures  of  her  disgusting  devotions, 
and  tell  how  the  priests  of  these  abominations 
were  honored  by  the  throne,  of  which  they  were 
the  chief  advisers.  It  was  so  with  Assyria,  as  the 
recent  exhumations  of  Nineveh  abundantly  attest. 
It  was  so  with  the  Babylon  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
as  Daniel,  who  lived  amid  it  all,  has  written.  It 
was  so  with  Persia,  as  her  various  records  all  de- 
clare. It  was  so  with  Greece,  as  her  own  most 
cherished  poets  sung,  her  mightiest  orators  pro- 
claimed, and  all  her  venerated  artists  and  histo- 
rians have  set  forth.  It  was  so  with  Rome,  as  all 
her  widespread  monuments  still  show,  and  all  the 
Christian  testimonies,  with  her  own,  render  clear 
and  manifest  as  the  sun.  And  it  will  be  so  with 
the  last,  which  is  yet  to  come,  as  declared  in  the 
apocalyptic  foreshowings,  and  in  all  the  prophecies 


132  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

in  the  Book  of  God  upon  the  subject.  It  requires 
but  a  glance  at  history  to  see  that  spiritual  har- 
lotry has  ever  been  the  particular  pet  and  delight 
of  all  the  Beast-powers  of  time.  If  ever  the 
worship  and  requirements  of  the  true  God  won 
their  respect  and  patronage,  they  soon  corrupted 
it  to  their  own  selfish  and  ambitious  ends,  or  never 
were  easy  until  freed  from  the  felt  restraint. 

True  religion  and  an  uncorrupted  Church  have 
never  suited  the  representatives  of  power,  or 
pleased  them  long.  Dragon  agencies  are  ill  at 
ease  without  some  form  of  Dragon  worship.  Only 
what  will  dignify,  if  not  deify,  lust  and  selfishness, 
is  in  accord  with  their  spirit.  They  simply  favor 
and  honor  their  own  when  they  favor  and  cherish 
the  base  Woman.  Her  gaudiness  and  pomp,  her 
gayety  and  ready  compliances,  her  ennoblement  of 
"  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the 
pride  of  life,"  enamour  them,  and  make  them  glad 
to  bear  her  on  their  shoulders.  It  is  a  sad  com- 
mentary on  humanity,  but  it  is  the  truth,  that  all 
the  great  world-powers,  from  first  to  last,  are  the 
paramours  and  props  of  the  Harlot  Woman.  Gov- 
ernment is  indeed  a  thing  of  God,  instituted  for 
human  good,  necessary  to  man,  and  invested  with 
rights  from  the  eternal  throne;  but  Satan  has  ever 
known  too  well  how  to  pervert  it  to  his  own  base 
ends.  And  so  the  mountains  of  worldly  power 
have  ever  served  him  as  grand  homes  for  his  adul- 
teress Bride. 

What  else  remains  of  the  story  must  wait  for 
anofher  occasion.  God  help  us  all  to  keep  our- 
selves from  idols ! 


LECTURE   THIRTY-NINTH. 

GREAT  BABYLON  CONTINUED  —  THE  WILDERNESS  IN  WHICH 
SHE  APPEARS  —  HER  TWOFOLDNESS,  IN  MYSTERY  AND  AS 
A  CITY — SHALL  THE  CITY  OF  BABYLON  BE  RESTORED  — 
PROPHECIES  OF  HER  ABSOLUTE  OBLITERATION  NOT  YET 
FULFILLED  —  PROPHECIES  WHICH  SEEM  TO  REQUIRE  HER 
RESTORATION — ZECHARIAH'S  EPHAH — HER  FEATURES  AND 
FALL  TOUCHING  THIS  QUESTION — REASONABLENESS  OF  THE 
IDEA. 


Rev.  17  :  18.  (Revised  Text.)  And  the  Woman  whom  thou  sawest, 
is  the  great  city,  which  hath  rule  [kingdom]  upon  the  kings  of  the 
earth. 

WHEJST  Jolm  was  taken  to  see  "the  judgment 
of  the  Great  Harlot,"  he  was  borne  "  into  a 
wilderness."  This  description  of  her  dwelling- 
place  is  very  expressive.  Where  spiritual  har- 
lotry occupies  the  place  of  the  true  worship  of 
God,  there  is  desolation.  There  may  be  riches 
and  worldly  glory,  as  here.  There  may  be  the  ful- 
ness of  power  and  dominion ;  there  may  be  pur- 
ple, and  scarlet,  and  gold,  and  gems  of  stone,  and 
pearls,  and  drink  from  golden  cups;  there  may 
be  luxuries,  sumptuous  living,  pomp,  display,  and 
everything  to  delight  the  sensual  heart;  and  yet, 
where  the  word,  worship,  and  institutes  of  God 
are  trampled  under  foot,  it  is  wilderness.  Some 
set  great  store  on  general  education,  on  the  achieve- 

(  133) 


134 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


ments  of  science,  on  the  progress  of  man  in  his 
material  and  social  interests,  on  the  success  of  re- 
forms in  government  and  laws,  on  the  universal 
spread  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  wrought 
out  by  the  diffusion  of  intelligence  and  right 
reason.  Those  claiming  to  be  leaders  in  this  liue 
of  thought  are  everywhere  full  of  prognostications 
of  a  great  and  glorious  condition  of  humanity  to 
be  achieved  by  the  new  ideas  over  against  what 
they  consider  the  old  nonsense,  superstition,  and 
ignorance,  which,  as  they  say,  have  too  long  held 
dominion.  And  in  proportion  to  the  confidence 
and  zeal  in  these  hopes  is  the  averseness  to  the 
Bible  and  its  teachings,  or  any  such  way  of  re- 
ceiving it  as  takes  it  for  what  it  says.  Indeed  the 
Church,  its  doctrines  and  confessions,  are  ignored, 
sneered  at,  and  more  and  more  resisted  and  set 
aside,  as  the  particular  impediment  to  the  true 
interests  of  man,  and  the  worst  hindrances  to 
human  progress  and  blessedness.  But  the  Scrip- 
tures have  anticipated  this,  and  tell  us  that  so 
things  will  go  on  until  the  world  believes  itself 
wiser  than  its  reputed  Maker.  And  when  the 
gospel  of  the  sensual  and  devilish  wisdom  has 
once  won  its  way  to  victory,  as  it  surely  will ; 
when  the  atheistic  materialism  to  which  so  many 
are  betaking  themselves  has  attained  its  bloom; 
and  when  the  ten  thousand  goodishnesses  for 
which  so  large  a  portion  of  the  professed  Church 
is  selling  its  birthright  have  brought  forth  their 
inevitable  fruits,  the  result  will  be  a  universal 
wilderriess,  with  nothing  but  a  monster  Beast  from 


LECTURE    XXXIX.    CHAP.    17:18.  235 

the  abyss  for  government,  a  hell-inspired  self-will 
for  law,  and  the  uncleannesses  of  a  gaudy  Harlot 
for  paradise.  And  this  is  the  world  in  its  final 
outcome,  when  Antichrist  reigns  and  Great  Baby- 
lon reaches  its  full  development.  The  true  people 
of  God  will  then  have  been  removed  to  the 
heavenly  pavilion,  or  killed  off  by  the  powers  of 
a  blaspheming  persecution.  According  to  the 
prophet's  figure,  they  will  have  become  as  scarce 
on  earth  as  the  remaining  grapes  after  the  vintage 
has  been  gathered.  The  Living  Ones  will  have 
reached  their  places  in  connection  with  the  celes- 
tial throne.  The  Elders  will  have  obtained  their 
crowns  and  golden  seats.  The  numberless  multi- 
tude will  have  taken  its  stand  before  the  throne 
of  God.  The  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of 
the  world  will  have  been  mostly  withdrawn.  And 
whatever  of  accumulated  wealth,  gorgeousness, 
luxury,  or  perfected  human  civilization  may  re- 
main, what  can  this  habitation  of  mortals  be  but 
one  great  moral  wilderness  and  desolation,  where 
the  powers  are  full  of  blasphemy,  and  the  accred- 
ited worship  is  abomination  ?  Such,  at  least,  is 
the  pictured  scene  of  things  to  which  the  Apos- 
tolic Seer  was  carried  to  see  the  Great  Harlot  and 
the  end  that  awaits  her. 

"When  John  beheld  the  Woman,  he  was  much 
astonished.  He  tells  us  himself  that  he  "  won- 
dered great  wonder."  When  the  Beast  first  dis- 
played himself  all  the  world  wondered  after  the 
Beast.  (Chap.  13 :  3.)  But  that  w^as  a  wonder  of 
admiration;  this  is  a  wonder  of  perplexed  horror. 


136  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

He  had  had  a  view  of  that  Beast  before.  He  had 
beheld  and  described  his  heads  and  horns.  He 
had  seen  the  wounding  to  death  and  the  healing 
from  the  wound,  and  how  men  were  carried  cap- 
tive by  the  marvel.  But  he  experienced  no  such 
astonishment  as  here.  But  he  had  seen  and  de- 
scribed the  glorious  Woman,  whose  mystic  child 
was  caught  up  to  God  and  to  His  throne.  Could 
it  be  that  this  was  the  same  Woman, — the  Bride 
of  Heaven  transformed  into  such  a  character,  with 
such  names  on  her  forehead,  and  thus  associated 
with  the  Son  of  Perdition?  God  had  once  ex- 
claimed over  the  defections  of  Jerusalem,  "  How 
is  the  faithful  city  become  an  harlot !"  (Isa.  1 :  21.) 
Was  John  to  understand  a  similar  transformation 
here?  This  was  the  seat  of  his  amazed  horror 
and  bewilderment.  But  the  angel  at  once  inter- 
posed to  relieve  him.  The  Beast  is  the  same 
which  he  saw  before,  but  the  Woman  is  not.  And 
the  Beast  is  here  seen  in  the  fulness  of  his  devel- 
opment. No  color  was  noticed  on  his  first  rise ; 
but  by  this  time  he  has  developed  his  bloody  hue 
by  his  slaughter  of  the  saints.  Then  he  had  names 
of  blasphemy  on  his  heads ;  by  this  time  he  is  full 
of  them  all  over.  There  his  infernal  origin  did 
not  so  fully  appear;  by  this  time  he  has  demon- 
strated that  he  comes  up  out  of  the  abyss.  His 
seven  heads  were  there  left  in  mystery;  here  they 
are  explained,  and  his  true  history  and  relations 
indicated.  There  his  ten  horns  were  noted ;  but 
only  here  is  it  told  that  they  are  ten  contempo- 
raneous kings,  who  arise  contemporaneously  with 


LECTURE    XXXIX.    CHAP.    17:18.  137 

<;he  Beast,  and  who  colleague  with  him  in  one  mind 
and  policy,  and  give  their  power  and  authority  to 
him,  and  join  with  him  and  each  other  in  desolat- 
ing and  devouring  the  Woman  whom  at  tirst  they 
carried  in  afiection,  and  finally  make  war  against 
the  Lamb  in  a  contest  for  the  sovereignty  of  the 
world.     The  Woman  is  a  new  and  different  ob- 
ject.    The  tirst  was  the  mother  of  saints;  this  is 
the  mother  of  harlots  and  of  the  abominations  of 
the  earth,  first  organized  in  the  rebellion  of  Nim- 
rod,  and  the  gaudy  but  unclean  rider  upon  all  the 
great  mountains  of  world-power  from  the  begin- 
ning, for  whose  special  delectation  all  the  martyr 
blood  that  ever  flowed  has  been  shed,  and  who  is 
here  shown  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  her  end. 
There  is  a  twofoldness  of  the  judgment  upon 
this  great  Harlot.     Not  only  is  her  fall  mentioned 
twice,  and  each  time  with  a  double  fall;  but  two 
sorts  of  visitation,  and  seemingly  at  different  times, 
are  here  described.     At  first  the  Beast  carries  the 
Woman ;  but  the  angel  says  that  the  ten  horns,  in 
connection  with  him,  eventually  "hate  the  Harlot, 
and  make  her  desolate  and  naked,  and  shall  eat 
her  flesh,  and  burn  her  with  fire."     In  the  next 
chapter,  however,  there  is  a  diflerent  picture,  and 
her  final  ruin  takes  the  form  of  a  sudden  and  com- 
plete overthrow  of  a  great  city,  over  which  these 
same  kings  lament  and  mourn.     These  two  differ- 
ent presentations  are  owing  to  the  two  diflerent 
aspects  in  which  the  Woman  is  contemplated.    In 
chapter  17  we  have  the  picture  of  Great  Babylon 
in  mystery  only,  in  which  she  has  various  centres 


138 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


and  tbrnis  at  different  times,  and  presents  herself 
in  a  variety  of  ways.     The  last  forms  of  Babylon 
in  mystery  are  those  which  the  ten  kings  with  the 
Beast  attack  and  destroy.     How  this  comes  about 
is  plain  enough.     The  two  great  Beasts,  as  we 
have  seen,  set  up  an  entirely  new  religion  upon 
earth, — a  religion  which   they  insist  on   making 
as  universal  as  their  own  dominion,  and  so  must 
needs  make  w^ar  on  all  existing  religions,  true  or 
false.     The  record  is,  that  they  will  not  permit 
any  one  to  live  under  them  who  w^ill  not  conform 
to  their  new  worship,  nor  allow  any  one  to  buy  or 
sell  without  first  accepting  their  hellish  sacrament 
or  mark.     Hence  every  form  of  existing  worship 
then    upon   earth,  be   it   Romanism,  Mohamme- 
danism, degenerate  Protestantism,  or  any  other 
species  of  false  worship,  it  will  come   under  the 
ban  of  this  great  infernal  confederation.     What- 
ever riches  or  possessions  they  may  have  will  be 
confiscated.     Their  temples,  cathedrals,  mosques, 
institutions,    and    treasure-depositories,    will   be 
rifled,  stripped,  burned  to  the  ground,  and  all  their 
owners  turned  out  in  perfect  nakedness;  and  any 
of  them  daring  to  resist,  or  refusing  to  conform  to 
the  new  worship  of  the  Beast  and  his  image,  will 
be  put  to  the  sword.     All  this  is  necessarily  im- 
plied in  what  was  shown  of  the  doings  of  the  False 
Prophet,  and  what  occurs  under  his  administra- 
tions ;  but  it  is  here  independently  stated  as  part 
of  "the  judgment  of  the   Great   Harlot."     This 
is  the  first  part  of  her  final  calamities. 

But  Great  Babylon  in  final  revelation  is  also  a 


LECTURE   XXXIX.     CHAP.    17:18.  139 

local  city.  As  a  system,  its  essential  principle  is 
alienation  of  soul  from  God,  and  so  whatever  is 
developed  from  the  carnal  wisdom,  either  against 
or  in  the  place  of  the  true  worship.  But  as  the 
sun-clad  Woman  develops  into  a  heavenly  city,  the 
new  Jerusalem,  embodying  all  the  ultimate  glories 
pertaining  to  the  spiritual  wisdom  and  the  true 
devotion,  so  the  Great  Harlot  also  develops  into 
an  earthly  city,  embodying  all  the  completed  tem- 
poral results  of  the  sensual  wisdom  and  the  ulti- 
mate bloom  of  human  apostasy.  Hence  her  final 
overthrow  sums  up  in  the  fall  and  destruction  of 
a  great,  rich,  and  powerful  city.  Hence,  also,  the 
angel  says:  *' The  Woman  whom  thou  sawest  is 
the  great  city  which  hath  rule  upon  the  kings  of  the 
earth."  It  is  the  same  Woman  which,  as  a  system 
of  false  worship,  rode  all  the  governments  and 
powers  of  earth,  but  which  makes  its  final  pres- 
entation in  the  form  of  a  literal  city. 

Some  think  only  an  ideal  city  is  meant,  but 
nearly  all  interpreters,  however  diverse  their 
ways  of  looking  at  these  visions,  agree  that  we 
must  here  understand  a  real  city.  Most  of  them 
say  it  is  the  city  of  Rome ;  some  say  it  is  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  a  few  say  it  is  the  island  of  England, 
which  they  take  as  the  great  centre  of  an  unclean 
system  of  union  between  Church  and  State.  My 
own  impressions  are  that  a  literal  city  is  contem- 
plated in  the  vision,  but  that  we  must  look  for  it 
in  a  difierent  region  of  the  world.  However  much 
Rome,  Jerusalem,  or  states  having  national 
churches  may  be  involved,  they  do  not,  and  it  is 


140 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


hard  to  see  how  they  possibly  can,  fill  out  the  pic- 
ture of  this  final  Babylon.  The  realization  is  yet 
in  the  future,  and  we  cannot  speak  with  confidence 
as  to  how  matters  will  eventuate  ;  but  there  seems 
to  be  reason  for  the  belief  that  the  literal  Babylon 
will  be  restored,  and  that  we  are  to  look  to  the 
coming  up  again  of  that  primal  city  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  what  is  here  foreshown.  The  mention 
of  such  a  thing  may  seem  like  a  wild  dream,  and 
appear  to  clash  with  some  of  the  prophecies  touch- 
ing the  irrecoverable  destruction  of  ancient  Baby- 
lon. But  let  us  look  a  little  at  the  subject,  and  en- 
deavor to  construe  the  Scriptures  as  they  are,  and 
not  according  to  the  loose  impressions  which  have 
found  currency  as  if  they  were  settled  truths. 

First  of  all,  it  seems  to  be  pretty  clear  that  the 
ancient  predictions  concerning  the  utter  destruc- 
tion of  Babylon  have  never  yet  been  entirely  ful- 
filled. Isaiah  gives  the  sentence  upon  Babylon, 
in  which  he  says  that  her  destruction  shall  come 
suddenly  from  the  hand  of  the  Almighty,  that  her 
glory  and  beauty  shall  be  "  as  when  God  over- 
threw Sodom  and  Gomorrah,"  never  more  to  be 
inhabited,  nor  dw^elt  in  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion ;  and  that  the  Arabian  shall  never  again  pitch 
tent  there,  nor  shepherds  make  their  fold  there. 
(See  Isaiah  13.)  So  again  it  was  said  to  Jeremiah, 
<^  Babylon  shall  become  heaps,  a  dwelling-place  for 
dragons,  an  astonishment,  and  an  hissing,  without 
an  inhabitant."  At  the  same  time  he  directed 
Seraiah  to  take  the  manuscript  of  this  prophecy, 
after  reading  it,  bind  a  stone  to  it,  cast  it  into 


LECTURE   XXXIX.    CHAP.   17:18.  141 

the   midst  of  Euphrates,  and   say,  "  Thus  shall 
Babylon  sink,  and  shall  not  rise  from  the  evil  that 
I  will  bring  upon  her."  (Jer.  51.)     That  all  this 
has  been  in  large  measure  strikingly  fulfilled  must 
be  admitted.     It  is  part  of  the  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  God's  word.     And  if  it  all  belongs  to  the 
past,  it  is  equally  certain  that  Babylon  never  can 
be  restored.  Two  facts,  however,  appear,  which  go 
very  far  to  prove  that  these  predictions  do  not  be- 
long exclusively  to  the  past,  but  await  further  ful- 
filment.    The  one  is,  that  Isaiah  locates  the  de- 
struction of  which  he  speaks  in  "  the  day  of  the 
Lord.''    (Is.  13:6.)      That  day,  in  literal  fulness, 
has  not  yet  come.    The  world  has  witnessed  many 
earnests  and  prelibations  of  it,  but  that  day  proper 
is  still  in  the  future,  and  only  comes  when  Christ 
himself  shall  come  again.     And  if  the  utter  de- 
struction  thus  suddenly  to  come  upon  Babylon 
belongs  to  "  the  day  of  the  Lord,"  she  must  again 
revive  in  order  to  become  the  subject  of  it.     The 
other  fact  is  that  Babylon,  in  all  the  deep  calami- 
ties and  desolations  which  have  come  upon  her, 
never   yet   experienced   all    that   has    been   thus 
prophesied.     When  did  Babylon  ever  fall  with  so 
complete  a  fall,  or  meet  with  such  an  utter  oblit- 
eration from  the  earth,  "  as  when  God  overthrew 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah?"     Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
were  completely  blotted  out.     But  this  has  never 
yet  been  the  case  with  Babylon.     Such  was  not  its 
fate  when  the  Medes  and  Persians  seized  it  from 
the  hands  of  the  infamous  Belshazzar,  for  they 
made  it  one  of  their  royal  cities.     In  the  time  of 


142  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Alexander  it  still  stood,  and  was  the  chosen  cap- 
ital of  the  Grseco-Macedoniau  empire,  the  second 
city  of  Alexander's  dominions,  where  he  himself 
lived  and  died.  It  continued  to  be  a  populous 
place  under  the  Syrian  kings,  who  succeeded  Al- 
exander in  the  rule  over  it.  In  the  time  of  the 
apostles  it  was  still  a  populous  place,  for  both  Peter 
and  Bartholomew  preached  the  Gospel  there,  and 
there  Peter  wrote  his  first  Epistle.  As  late  as 
A.D.  260,  there  was  a  Christian  church  there,  and 
an  influential  bishopric  for  many  years  thereafter. 
Five  hundred  years  after  Christ  there  were  Jewish 
academies  there,  who  issued  the  celebrated  Baby- 
lonian Talmud.  Here,  then,  was  a  lengthening 
out  of  the  existence  of  Babylon  as  a  populated 
city  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  subsequent 
to  the  taking  of  it  by  Cyrus.  And  even  to  this 
present  hour  there  is  a  city  in  the  middle  of  the 
area  occupied  by  old  Babylon  containing  10,000 
people,  and  which  pays  to  its  governor  a  revenue 
of  342,000  Turkish  piastres,  more  than  $17,000,  a 
year.  Shepherds  do  make  their  folds  there,  as 
testified  by  all  modern  travellers,  and  the  Arabians 
do  pitch  their  tents  there.  It  is  not  an  utter  deso- 
lation without  inhabitant,  and  never  has  been  since 
Nimrod  laid  its  first  foundations.  The  sentence 
upon  Babylon  is  therefore  not  yet  fulfilled,  and 
cannot  be  unless  that  city  comes  up  again  into 
something  of  its  former  consequence. 

In  the  next  place,  there  are  Scripture  prophecies 
which  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  except  upon  the 
theory  that  Babylon  will  be  restored,  become  a 


LECTURE   XXXIX.    CHAP.    17:18.  I43 

great  commercial  centre,  and  be  the  last  of  this 
world's  great  centres  to  go  down  under  the  ter- 
rific visitations  of  the  day  of  the  Lord. 

What  is  the  world's  common  symbol  for  com- 
merce, the  accepted  picture  to  represent  it?  I 
have  asked  this  question,  and  looked  to  verify  the 
answer.  In  general  I  have  found  it  to  be  an  or- 
namented coin,  weight,  measure,  or  bowl  of  the 
scales,  bearing  a  representation  of  the  power  that 
authorizes  it,  and  a  figure  of  a  woman  on  each 
side, — one  surrounded  with  the  implements  of 
navigation  looking  to  the  sea,  and  the  other  sur- 
rounded with  the  implements  of  trade,  husbandry, 
and  transportation  looking  toward  the  land, — the 
two  mutually  supporting  what  is  between  them, 
whilst  above  are  the  wrings  of  some  vigorous  bird, 
to  indicate  the  far-reaching  flights  of  what  is  thus 
pictured  to  the  eye  and  imagination,  l^or  would 
it  be  easy  to  improve  on  this.  It  has  been  evolved 
in  the  course  of  ages,  and  the  whole  modern  world, 
so  far  as  I  know,  has  set  the  seal  of  its  approval 
upon  it  as  the  accepted  emblem  of  commerce. 
But  it  is  the  same  that  was  shown  to  the  prophet 
Zechariah  500  years  before  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  era.  Just  at  the  time  when  he  sees 
the  great  flying  roll  of  the  curse  of  God  going 
forth  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  to  cut  ofi* 
transgressors,  he  beholds  an  ephah,  the  common 
bushel  measure,  and  a  talent  of  lead,  the  flat 
rounded  weight  used  in  the  calculation  of  tonnage, 
put  upon  the  mouth  or  top  of  the  bushel  measure, 
whilst  on  each  side  of  it  was  a  woman,  having 
VOL.  III.  67 


144  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

wings  "  like  the  wings  of  a  stork,"  with  the  winds 
in  their  wings ;  and  the}^  two  lifted  up  the  ephah 
between  earth  and  heaven  to  bear  it  away.  Be- 
sides, in  the  midst  of  the  united  measure  and 
weight,  was  another  woman  called  Wickedness,  the 
Lawless  Woman,  answering  to  the  Great  Harlot 
of  these  chapters.  The  prophet  wondered  what  it 
all  meant,  and  asked  the  angel  in  converse  with 
him  what  these  intended  to  do  with  the  measure 
and  weight  inclosing  the  Woman  of  Wickedness. 
The  angel  said :  "  To  build  it  an  house  in  the  land 
of  Shinar  ;  and  it  shall  be  established  and  set  there 
upon  her  oivn  baseJ^  (Zech.  5  : 1-11.) 

!N'ow  this  joined  measure  and  weight,  with  the 
two  winged  women  bearing  them,  and  the  winds 
in  their  wings,  is  unquestionably  a  symbol  oi  com- 
merce ;  not  so  much  as  it  was  then,  but  as  it  was 
to  become  in  the  period  verging  on  the  end,  and 
as  it  has  become  in  our  day.  The  building  of  a 
house  for  it,  and  the  establishment  and  settling  of 
it  upon  its  own  base,  can  mean  nothing  less  than 
the  creation  for  it  of  a  great  independent  centre, 
with  its  owni  ruler,  king,  or  government.  The 
place  of  this  house  is  specifically  stated  to  be 
"  the  land  of  Shinar.^'  What  that  land  is  we  can 
have  no  difficulty  in  ascertaining.  When  the 
people  in  Kimrod's  time  journeyed  from  the  East 
they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  oi  Shinar  and  dwelt 
there,  and  there  built  the  city  called  Babel,  or 
Babylon.  (Gen.  11 :  2-9.)  When  IN'ebuchadnezzar, 
king  of  Babylon,  invaded  Palestine,  it  is  said  that 
he  took  Jehoiakim^  and  part  of  the  vessels  of  the 


LECTURE    XXXIX.      CHAP.    17:18.  I45 

house  of  God,  and  carried  them  "  into  the  land  of 
Shimr;'  that  is,  Babylon.  (Dan.  1  :  1,  2.)  "The 
land  of  Shinar,"  then,  is  Babylon;  and  in  this 
Shinar  the  angel  said  this  commerce,  borne  by  the 
favoring  winds  on  mighty  wings,  was  to  be  estab- 
lished and  settled  on  its  own  base. 

This  prophecy  was  delivered  subsequent  to  the 
Babylonish  captivity,  and  at  least  half  a  lifetime 
after  Babylon  had  been  conquered  by  the  Medes 
and  Persians.  It  certainly  has  never  yet  been  ful- 
filled according  to  its  terms.  By  the  connection 
in  which  it  is  given,  its  fulfilment  belongs  to  the 
time  when  the  great  curse  of  God  upon  the  wicked 
goes  forth  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth;  that  is, 
in  the  great  judgment  period.  By  the  indications 
thus  given  as  to  time,  and  by  the  whole  contents 
of  the  foreshowing,  its  accomplishment  belongs  to 
the  future,  and  necessarily  includes  the  revival  of 
old  Babylon  as  a  great  commercial  centre,  stand- 
ing independent  of  all  other  powers,  and  exercis- 
ing its  own  peculiar  dominion  over  the  govern- 
ments of  the  earth.  And  this  is  all  the  more  con- 
firmed in  that  it  exhibits  the  Woman  of  Wicked- 
ness, the  Great  Harlot,  ensconced  in  it,  as  the  great 
spirit  which  pervades  the  whole. 

It  is  also  distinctly  prophesied  that  Babylon 
shall  be  the  very  last  of  the  powers  of  the  earth 
compelled  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  the  divine  wrath 
in  the  great  day  of  the  Lord.  That  cup  is  to  go 
around  to  all  the  nations  and  potencies  of  this 
world,  to  "  all  the  kings  of  the  north,  far  and  near, 
one  with  another,  and   all  the   kingdoms  of  the 


146  TS®   APOCALYPSE. 

world  which  are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and 
the  king  of  Sheshack  shall  drink  after  them.''  (Jer. 
25  :  17-26.)  All  the  Jewish  interpreters  agree  that 
Sheshack  is  only  another  name  for  Babylon^  and  so, 
in  another  place,  Babylon  is  called  "  the  hinder- 
most  of  the  nations,'^  because  thus  belated  in  the 
judgment  which  is  to  make  her  ''a  wilderness,  a 
dry  land,  a  desert,'^  so  as  to  be  "  wholly  desolate," 
and  "  no  more  inhabited  forever."  (Jer.  50  :  12, 13, 
35-40.)  Thus  far  Babylon  has  been  the  foremost  of 
the  nations  in  experience  of  the  judgments  of  God, 
and  cannot  possibly  be  "  the  hindermost,"  as  thus 
described,  except  as  rebuilt  and  become  once  more 
a  great  centre  of  independent  power  existing  at 
the  time  when  the  final  day  of  vengeance  comes. 

Furthermore,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  to  do 
justice  to  the  description  which  John  here  gives 
of  the  features  and  fall  of  the  Great  City  which 
he  was  called  to  contemplate,  except  on  the  sup- 
position of  such  a  revival  of  the  old  Chaldean  me- 
tropolis. 

The  name  itself  is  a  tower  of  strength  to  the 
idea.  There  is  no  great  city,  Babylon,  now;  nor 
has  there  been  for  many  ages.  ISTor  is  there  any 
other  great  city  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that 
answers  to  the  picture,  or  that  is  at  all  likely  ever 
to  answer  to  it  on  any  possibilities  that  can  be  im- 
agined. And  yet  the  name  of  this  great  city  is 
Babylon — Babylon  living  and  ruling  over  the  kings 
and  nations  of  the  earth  when  the  day  of  judg- 
ment reaches  its  consummation.  It  is  not  Bab}^- 
lon  in  mystery,  but  simply  "  the  great  city  Baby- 


LECTURE   XXXIX.    CHAP.    17:  18.  147 

Ion,  the  mighty  city;"  and  there  is  no  intimation 
whatever  that  this  city  of  Babylon  does  not  mean 
the  city  of  Babylon.  By  what  right  then  are  we 
to  think  of  any  other  city  than  that  which  has 
been  known  by  this  name  ever  since  Nimrod  lived  ? 
The  city  here  described  is  pre-eminently,  if  not 
exclusively,  a  commercial  city, — a  great  commer- 
cial city, — a  mart  of  nations.  There  is  nothing 
military,  nothing  ecclesiastical,  nothing  educa- 
tional, alluded  to  in  the  account;  everything  is 
commercial^  or  merged  into  the  one  idea  of  ex- 
change, trade,  and  what  relates  to  mercantile  aims 
and  accumulations.  Ships,  merchants,  commod- 
ities, are  the  main  subjects  of  the  description. 
And  when  this  city  falls,  it  is  "  the  merchants  of 
the  earth  "  that  "  mourn  and  weep  over  her,"  and 
with  them  such  as  are  most  concerned  with  com- 
merce,— "  every  ship-master,  and  every  one  who 
goeth  by  sea,  and  sailors,  and  as  many  as  trade 
by  sea,''  for  "  all  w^ho  had  ships  in  the  sea  were 
made  rich  from  her  costliness."  The  lamen- 
tation is  of  the  same  character  as  that  over  the 
fall  of  Tyre  (Ezek.  26  ;  15-18),  and  we  know  that 
Tyre  was  the  great  mercantile  metropolis  of  its 
time;  therefore  this  city  must  also  be  a  corre- 
sponding commercial  centre.  It  cannot,  therefore, 
be  Rome,  for  Rome  never  was  a  great  centre  of 
commerce.  In  all  the  Bible  we  never  read  of  "  a 
ship  of  Rome,''  or  of  one  sailing /rom  or  to  Rome. 
It  cannot  be  Paris  for  similar  reasons.  It  might 
be  London,  New  York,  or  San  Francisco,  but  there 
is  nothing  whatever  in  the  account  to  fix  the  pic- 


2^g  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ture  on  either  of  them,  whilst  none  of  them  could 
become  so  independent  of  all  government  but  its 
own,  as  indicated  in  this  case.  The  land  of  Shinar 
is  named  as  the  locality  in  the  old  prophets,  and 
the  particular  city  of  that  land,  in  its  own  proper 
name,  is  given  by  John  as  the  subject  of  what  he 
describes.  And  such  is  the  location  of  that  city 
politically,  geographically,  and  in  all  the  qualities 
of  accessibility,  commercial  facilities,  remoteness 
from  interferences  of  Church  or  state,  and  yet  cen- 
tral ness  with  regard  to  the  general  trade  of  the 
whole  world,  as  to  point  it  out  above  any  other 
known  as  the  elect  spot  for  just  what  is  predicted 
of  this  great  city. 

Even  apart  from  the  direct  Scriptural  prophecies 
and  implications  on  the  subject,  the  prospect  is  as 
they  represent.  The  whole  world  is  rapidly  de- 
veloping a  system  of  things  which,  in  the  ordinary 
working  of  human  affairs,  must  inevitably  result 
in  something  of  the  kind.  In  what,  indeed,  does 
the  mightiest  and  furthest  reaching  power  on  earth 
now  already  centre  ?  A  power  which  looms  up  in 
all  lands,  far  above  all  individual  or  combined 
powers  of  Church,  or  state,  or  caste,  or  creed? 
What  is  it  that  to-day  monopolizes  nearly  all  leg- 
islation, dictates  international  treaties,  governs  the 
conferences  of  kings  for  the  regulation  of  the  bal- 
ance of  power,  builds  railways,  cuts  ship-canals, 
sends  forth  steamer-lines  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
unwinds  electric  wires  across  continents,  under  the 
seas,  and  around  the  world,  employs  thousands  of 
engineers,  subsidizes  the  press,  tells  the  state  of 


LECTURE   XXXIX.    CHAP.    17:18.  I49 

the  markets  of  the  world  yesterday  that  everyone 
may  know  how  to  move  to-day,  and  has  her  living 
organizations  in  every  land  and  city,  interlinked 
with  each  other,  and  coming  daily  into  closer  and 
closer  combination,  so  that  no  great  government 
under  the  sun  can  any  longer  move  or  act  against 
her  will,  or  without  her  concurrence  and  consent  ? 
Think  for  a  moment,  for  there  is  such  a  power;  a 
power  that  is  everywhere  clamoring  for  a  common 
code,  a  common  currency,  common  weights  and 
measures;  and  which  is  not  likely  to  be  silenced 
or  to  stop  till  it  has  secured  a  common  centre  on 
its  own  independent  basis,  whence  to  dictate  to  all 
countries  and  to  exercise  its  own  peculiar  rule  on  all 
the  kings  and  nations  of  the  earth.  That  power  is 
commerce;  the  power  of  the  ephah  and  the  talent 
— the  power  borne  by  the  winged  women,  the  one 
with  her  hand  on  the  sea  and  the  other  with  her 
hand  on  the  land, — the  power  which  even  in  its  pres- 
ent dismemberment  is  mightier  than  any  pope,  any 
throne,  any  government,  or  any  other  one  human 
power  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  Let  it  go  on  as 
it  has  been  going,  and  will  go,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing that  earth  can  interpose  to  hinder,  dissolving 
every  tie  of  nationality,  every  bond  of  family  or 
kindred,  every  principle  of  right  and  religion 
which  it  cannot  bend  and  render  subservient  to  its 
own  ends  and  interests;  and  the  time  must  come 
when  it  will  settle  itself  down  somewhere  on  its 
own  independent  base,  and  where  Judaism  and 
Heathenism,  Romanism  and  Protestantism,  Mo- 
hammedanism and  Boodhi8m,and  every  distinction 


150 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


of  nationality, — English,  German,  French,  Italian, 
Greek,  Turk,  Hindoo,  Arab,  Chinee,  Japanee,  or 
what  not, — shall  be  sunk  in  one  great  universal 
fellowship  and  kingdom  of  commerce. 

And  when  it  once  comes  to  that,  as  there  is  every 
prospect  that  it  will,  for  Providence  in  judgment 
for  the  greed  and  covetousness  of  men  will  pros- 
per it,  filling  the  wings  of  the  women  with  the 
winds  of  heaven,  where  on  earth  is  the  spot  so 
suited  to  the  purpose  as  that  where  the  first  city 
this  side  the  flood  was  built?     There  is  the  great 
navigable  river,  emptying  out  into  the  open  sea, 
whose  waters  lave  every  country  and  island  most 
filled  with  the  treasures  of  the  far  East.*    From 
thence  there  are  almost  level  avenues  for  railway 
lines  to  Egypt,  Smyrna,  and  Constantinople,  con- 
necting with  Vienna,  Paris,  and  London,  for  some 
of  which  the  Turkish  Sultan,  it  is  said,  has  granted 
Firman,  and  which  Western  Europe  in  its  own  de- 
fence will  presently  be  compelled  to   construct. 
There  could  all  the  great  mercantile  combinations 
unite  in  one  common  centre,  with  no  other  power 
on  earth  to  interfere  with  them.  All  the  consider- 
ations which  bear  on  the  question  speak  for  old 
Babylon. 

And  with  a  world-wide  commercial  organization 


*  G.  Rawlinson,  in  his  notes  on  Herodotus,  says,  with  General 
Chesney's  Euphrat.  Expedition,  that  the  Euphrates  "  is  navigable 
without  any  serious  interruption  from  Samosata  to  the  sea, 
nearly  1200  miles;"  that  from  Busrah  to  the  sea  it  is  on  an 
average  30  feet  deep  and  1200  yards  wide,  and  at  Babylon  it 
averages  15  feet  in  depth  and  200  yards  in  width. — Vol.  i,  pp. 
446,  447. 


LECTURE    XXXIX.    CHAP.   17  :  18.  I5I 

thus  established  on  its  own  independent  base,  with 
the  great  mercantile  houses  of  England  and  her 
colonies,  of  the  Americas,  of  the  other  countries 
lining  the  Mediterranean,  of  the  maritime  and 
monetary  centres  everywhere,  represented  in  cor- 
responding houses  there;  with  the  ships,  and  pas- 
sengers in  ships,  congregating  in  and  about  the 
Euphrates  as  the  central  exchange  of  the  world; 
and  with  the  gold-kings,  money-lords,  and  mer- 
chant princes  of  the  earth,  thus  combined  without 
regard  to  creeds  or  nationalities  in  the  one  great 
interest  of  regulating  and  managing  the  commerce 
of  the  globe,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  every  feature  in 
the  Apocalyptic  picture  of  Babylon  would  be  filled 
out.  Her  merchants  would  thus  be  the  great  men 
of  the  earth.  Her  chief  purchases  would  neces- 
sarily be  as  here  described :  (1)  the  most  precious 
and  valuable  metals ;  (2)  the  costliest  articles  of 
clothing,  ornaments,  and  display;  (3)  the  most  rare 
and  sumptuous  of  furniture  and  materials  for  it; 
(4)  precious  aromatics,  spices,  and  ointments;  (5) 
the  finest  of  eatables;  (6)  the  most  luxurious  of 
equipages,  chariots,  and  horses;  and  (7)  slaves  and 
attendants  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
style  and  grandeur  going  along  with  such  wealth, 
consequence,  and  power.  The  city  would  thus 
literally  be  "  clothed  in  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and 
scarlet,  and  decked  with  gold,  and  precious  stone, 
and  pearl,"  creating  a  market  for  the  skill  and  most 
excellent  products  of  the  whole  world,  enriching  ar- 
tisans, ship-masters,  ship-owners,  ship-senders,  and 
all  the  traders  in  these  things  in  all  nations.  Kings 


152  ''^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  the  earth  would  thus  naturally  find  it  their  in- 
terest and  their  delight  to  be  on  good  terms  and 
friendliest  intimacies  with  a  power  so  much  wider 
and  greater  than  their  own.  Governments  would 
have  to  throw  their  influence  in  its  favor,  legislate 
out  of  the  way  what  it  wishes  away,  direct  their 
policies  according  to  its  desires,  and  make  war  and 
conclude  peace  as  it  dictates,  as  is  even  now  already 
largely  the  case,  for  commerce  is  the  law-maker 
of  the  world.  The  purse-strings  of  the  nations 
would  thus  be  in  the  hands  of  a  universal  inde- 
pendent power,  whose  ban  would  be  worse  than 
the  Pope's  edicts  of  excommunication  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages;  and  to  make  war  with  it  would  be  to 
make  war  against  the  allied  world.  All  the  kings 
of  the  earth  would  thus  necessarily  become  par- 
ticipant in  everything  belonging  to  the  system,  the 
very  organization  of  which  is  the  utter  negation 
of  all  distinctive  creeds,  and  the  complete  abroga- 
tion of  all  religious  and  moral  laws  which  stand 
in  the  way  of  its  purposes. 

And  thus  also  the  old  harlotry  would  necessarily 
be  the  chief  spirit  of  the  whole  thing.  Zealous 
and  earnest  worship  there  would  needs  be,  but  a 
worship  concentrated  upon  the  ephah  and  the 
talent;  a  worship  which  makes  temples  of  banks, 
and  warehouses,  and  exchanges,  and  pleasure- 
parks;  a  worship  not  of  the  sun,  or  moon,  or 
stars,  or  emperors,  or  popes,  but  of  pounds,  and 
francs,  and  piastres,  and  dollars;  the  worship  of 
greed,  and  epicurean  luxury ;  the  worship  of  Mam- 
mon perfected,  and  overriding  and   supplanting 


LECTURE   XXXIX.    CHAP,    17:18.  I53 

all  other  devotions;  the  perpetuation  and  crown 
of  tlie  great  moral  defilement  of  the  ages,  only 
taking  to  the  soul's  embrace  and  into  the  place 
of  God  the  meaner  object  which  the  divine  word 
stigmatizes  as  '''filthy  lucreJ'  Covetousness  is  idol- 
atr}^  and  a  form  of  it  which  is  the  root  of  all  evil; 
and  here  will  be  covetousness,  deep-wrapped  in 
the  embracing  arms  of  its  god,  and  dazing  and 
defiling  the  world  with  the  glory  and  grandeur  of 
its  abominations. 

Such  would  Babylon  be  under  the  suppositions 
to  which  1  have  alluded,  and  such  is  the  Great 
Babylon  of  these  chapters  in  its  final  outcome.  Is 
it  not  reasonable,  therefore,  to  believe  that  this  is 
the  way  in  which  this  prophetic  description  is  to 
be  realized  ? 

Besides,  it  would  be  a  strange  thing  if  Babylon 
were  to  be  the  only  exception  to  the  general  re- 
vival and  renewal  which  is  to  come  to  the  long 
desolations  of  the  East  in  general.  Egypt,  long 
the  basest  of  the  kingdoms,  is  rapidly  coming  up 
again,  and  is  everywhere  presented  as  prominent 
in  the  time  when  Christ  comes  to  take  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  earth.  The  English  occupation  of 
Cyprus  must  give  strong  impulse  to  the  rebuilding 
of  the  mighty  cities  which  once  had  place  upon 
and  around  that  island.  Tyre  and  its  associated 
cities,  and  Antioch,  and  Damascus,  and  Tadmor, 
and  Nineveh,  and  all  the  ancient  localities,  are  be- 
coming more  and  more  the  objects  of  interest  to 
the  "Western  peoples  and  powers,  and  plans  for  the 
revival  of  some  of  them,  including  especially  old 


254  'fHE    APOCALYPSE. 

Babylon,  have  been  put  forth  with  eloquence  and 
received  with  favor.* 

*  In  1857  a  work  was  published  in  London,  entitled  Memoir 
of  the  Euphrates  Valley  Route  to  India,  loith  Official  Correspon- 
dence and  Maps,  by  W.  P.  Andrew,  F.K.G.S,,  etc.  After 
a  large  circulation  the  same  was  enlarged,  and  published  in  a 
volume,  entitled  The  Scinde  Railway  and  its  Relations  to  the 
Euphrates  Valley  and  other  Routes  to  India.  This  enlargement 
and  republication  of  the  work  was  undertaken,  on  the  consid- 
erations stated  in  the  preface,  viz.,  that  "it  is  believed  to  be  es- 
sential, not  only  to  the  vital  interests  of  this  country  (England) 
in  the  East,  and  the  well-being  of  Turkey,  but  to  the  peace  and 
progress  of  the  world,  to  establish,  with  as  little  delay  as  pos- 
sible, steam  and  telegraphic  communication,  via  the  Euphrates, 
between  England  and  India;"  and  "to  indicate  to  statesmen 
the  political  power,  to  the  philanthropist  the  enlightenment, 
and  to  the  merchant  the  profit,  that  would  of  necessity  accrue 
from  re-establishing  this  highway  of  forgotten  empires  and 
ancient  commerce." 

The  author  of  this  book  recounts  the  many  and  glowing  his- 
tories which  cluster  around  the  Euphrates  and  its  tributary,  the 
Tigris  ;  points  out  the  extraordinary  capabilities  of  the  country, 
and  adds:  **  Every  way,  commercially,  historically,  and  politi- 
cally, the  Euphrates  Valley  route  is  a  grand  scheme,  and  must 
affect  immediately  the  commerce,  and,  in  some  measure,  the  des- 
tinies of  our  race  ;  and  that  depends  not  on  a  thorough  traflSc,  but 
holds  within  its  own  confines  the  elements  of  a  great  prosperity. 

"  Why  have  the  governments  and  peoples  of  the  West  com- 
bined to  uphold  the  Sultan  in  the  possession  of  Constantinople  ? 
And  why  has  he  who  thought  fit  to  menace  that  position  met 
with  the  armed  opposition  of  Europe  ?  Because  the  passage  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Black  Sea  is  of  so  much  importance 
that  whatever  European  power  might  become  master  of  it  would 
domineer  over  all  the  rest,  and  destroy  that  balance  which  the 
whole  world  is  interested  in  preserving.  Establish  then,  at 
another  and  far  more  extensive  point  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
a  similar  and  yet  more  important  position  ;  make  the  Valley  of 
the  Euphrates  the  highway  of  the  commercial  world,  and  you 
would  restore  millions  of  unproductive  acres  to  the  revenue. 


LECTURE    XXXIX.    CHAP.    17  :  18.  I55 

Jerusalem,  we  know,  is  to  be  rebuilt  and  re- 
established as  a  great  national  and  religious  centre, 

bring  thousands  of  merely  vassal  tribes  within  the  pale  of  order 
and  fair  tribute,  and  create  in  the  East  another  immovable  seat 
of  power  for  the  great  powers  of  Europe." 

So,  also,  an  article  in  Colburn's  Monthly,  quoted  by  this  author, 
says:  "England  and  France,  and  even  other  nations,  appear 
now  called  to  great  works,  which  throw  into  the  shade  the  most 
striking  deeds  of  history.  Among  these  works  of  the  future  it 
appears  that  the  opening  of  the  Euphrates  Valley,  and  the  res- 
toration of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia, 
stands  first  in  rank.  Such  a  proceeding,  by  multiplying  and 
strengthening  the  ties  by  which  people  of  all  climates,  of  all 
races,  of  all  beliefs,  are  united  to  Great  Britain  and  France, 
would  connect  forever  the  general  prosperity  of  nations  with 
the  happiness  of  those  countries,  their  security  with  their  power, 
and  their  independence  with  their  liberty." 

Mr.  Andrew  further  says:  "Amongst  the  numerous  ad- 
ministrations of  a  wise  and  merciful  design  of  Providence, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  opening  of  the 
valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  and  the  resuscita- 
tion of  the  great  nations  of  antiquity,  are  amongst  the  events 
designed  to  minister  to  the  growing  wants  and  improve- 
ments of  the  human  race It  is  not  too  much   to  say 

that  there  is  no  existing  or  projected  railroads  that  can  for 
a  moment  compare,  in  point  of  interest  and  importance,  with 
that  of  the  Euphrates  Valley.  It  brings  two  quarters  of  the 
globe  into  juxtaposition,  and  three  continents, — Europe,  Asia, 
and  Australia, — into  co-relation.  It  binds  the  vast  population 
of  Hindustan  by  an  iron  link  with  the  people  of  Europe ;  it  in- 
evitably entails  the  colonization  and  civilization  of  the  great 
valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  the  resuscitation  in  modern 
shape  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  and  the  reawakening  of  Ctesi- 
phon  and  Bagdad  of  old." 

In  the  Life  of  Sir  C.  Napier,  vol.  iv,  p.  70,  there  is  given 
an  extract  from  his  journal,  in  which  he  writes:  "Civilization 
was  travelling  west  in  Alexander's  time,  but  now  how  changed 
is  the  drama  !  More  than  2000  years  have  passed,  and  civiliza- 
tion arises  on  the  rear  of  barbarism  ;  we  English  have  seized 


156  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  a  very  numerous,  rich,  and  powerful  people. 
And  when  Israel  with  its  wealth  and  commercial 
energy  begins  to  rally  again  around  its  old  me- 
tropolis, the  Euphrates  will  again  be  needed  as 
much  as  Germany  needs  the  Danube,  Egypt  the 
Nile,  or  London  the  Thames;  whilst  the  prodig- 
ious fertility  of  its  great  alluvial  plains,  and  the 
unbounded  riches  of  nature  which  there  spring  up 
almost  unbidden  to  the  band  that  would  gather 
them,  and  a  ready  progress  of  opulence  that  would 
realize  the  wonder-working  power  of  Aladdin's 
lamp,  cannot  fail  to  arrest  and  command  the  sharp- 
sighted  covetousness  of  the  human  heart.  How, 
then,  are  we  to  suppose  it  possible  that  Babylon 
will  not  also  come  up  again  with  the  rest  of  these 
Eastern  schemes  and  renovations?  Already  a 
walled  town  there  exists,  taking  in  both  sides  of 
the  river,  as  old   Babylon    did.     It  is   encircled 

the  baggage,  are  following  up  our  blow,  and  in  a  few  years  shall 
be  at  Babylon,  a  revived  empire!  We  shall  go  slowly,  but  one 
hundred  years  will  see  us  at  Babylon!"  This  was  written  fifty 
years  ago. 

A  letter  written  at  Mosul  (Nineveh),  February  26th,  1854, 
and  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  says:  "There  is 
but  little  soil  in  the  world  like  that  of  the  valleys  of  the  Tigris 

and  the  Euphrates It  is  among  the  possibilities  that 

a  railway  will  ere  long  be  built  from  Antioch  to  Seleucia  along 
the  Orontes,  across  Mesopotamia  to  Mosul,  and  thence  down  to 
Bagdad  and  Busrah, — the  second  short  route  to  India.  If  this 
part  of  Turkey  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  England,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  such  a  road  would  be  speedily  constructed.  The 
line  has  been  surveyed.  These  barren  fields  are  too  rich  always 
to  remain  idle.     Its  time  has  nearly  come  !  " 

All  these  statements  are  quite  apart  from  what  many  are  too 
prone  to  call  mere  prophetic  speculations. 


LECTURE    XXXIX.     CHAP.    17:18.  ^57 

with  villages,  and  approached  through  an  out- 
spread country  dotted  with  beautiful  groves  of 
date-trees,  forming  a  broad  and  verdant  colonnade 
to  a  growing  city.  That  city,  strangely  enough, 
also  bears  the  name  oi  Rest  (llillah),  as  if  inviting 
the  wide-wandering  tribes  of  an  apostate  world  to 
come  back  to  the  bosom  of  the  old  mother,  there 
to  plant  and  erect  the  final  tower  of  their  finished 
greatness. 

I  conclude,  then,  that  such  a  great  commercial 
city,  different  from  all  that  now  exist,  will  yet  be, 
and  that  it  will  be  old  Babylon  rebuilt.  When 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  Lamb's  Wife,  comes  down 
out  of  heaven  from  God,  there  is  every  intimation 
that  it  will  be  stationed  over  the  old  Jerusalem. 
And  when  the  wisdom,  progress,  and  harlotries  of 
this  world  come  to  their  final  culmination  and  em- 
bodiment in  Great  Babylon,  there  is  correspond- 
ing reason  to  believe  that  it  will  be  centralized 
upon  the  very  spot  where  it  first  started,  and  meet 
ita  ultimate  doom  in  the  selfsame  locality  in  which 
it  was  born. 

But  the  description  of  that  doom,  its  character, 
and  its  results,  must  be  deferred  for  another  occa- 
sion. I  can  only  ask  you  now  to  think  over  what 
has  been  presented,  and  not  to  be  envious  at  the 
prosperity  of  the  wicked.  Let  the  gold,  and  the 
silver,  and  the  scarlet,  and  the  purple,  and  the  fine 
linen,  be  to  those  who  make  them  their  God.  We 
have  quite  another  Saviour,  and  quite  another 
calling.  They  that  worship  these  things  shall  lose 
them,  and  perish  with  them ;  but  they  who,  for 


158  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake,  deny  themselves 
and  refuse  to  be  beguiled  and  swayed  by  the  de- 
ceitful glitter  and  sumptuous  allurements  of 
wealth  and  fortune,  shall  live  to  enjoy  a  far  sub- 
limer  estate, — one  which  shall  never  fade  away. 
Yet  a  little  while,  and  they  shall  come  forth  in  a 
city  whose  gates  are  pearl  and  its  streets  gold, 
themselves  as  pure  as  the  gates  through  which 
they  pass,  and  as  excellent  and  glorious  as  the 
streets  on  which  they  tread ;  immortal  parts  of  a 
new  and  everlasting  system  of  God,  when  Babylon 
has  gone  down  into  perdition,  as  a  millstone  cast 
into  the  midst  of  the  sea. 


LECTURE  FORTIETH. 

THE  FALL  OF  GREAT  BABYLON  —  A  PERPLEXITY  RELIEVED  — 
LENGTH  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  PERIOD — THE  ANGEL  WHO  PRO- 
CLAIMS THE  FALL  —  THE  TWOFOLD  FALL  —  THE  PEOPLE 
CALLED  OUT — FORMS  OF  THE  DESTRUCTION  —  ADMINIS- 
TRANTS  OF  THE  CALAMITIES — MEASURE  OF  THE  TORMENT — 
THE  TOTAL  EXTINCTION  —  THE  CRIMES  WHICH  PROCURE 
THIS  DOOM  —  THE  POWER  AND  GODLESSNESS  OF  COMMERCE 
—THE  NATURE  OF  ITS  SORCERY— ITS  PRESUMPTUOUS  SELF- 
GLORIFICATION  AND  ARROGANCE. 


Rev.  18  :  1-8.  (Revised  Text.)  After  these  things  I  saw  another 
angel  coming  down  out  of  the  heaven,  having  great  authority,  and  the 
earth  was  lighted  up  from  his  glory.  And  he  cried  with  mighty  voice, 
saying,  Fallen,  fallen  Babylon  the  great,  and  become  a  habitation  of 
demons,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  spirit,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean 
and  hated  bird  ;  because  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication  all  the  nations 
have  fallen,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  committed  fornication  with 
ber,  and  the  merchants  of  the  earth  became  rich  out  of  the  power  of 
her  wantonness. 

And  I  heard  another  voice  out  of  the  heaven,  saying,  Come  out  of 
her,  my  people,  that  ye  may  have  no  fellowship  in  her  sins,  and  that 
ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues  ;  because  her  sins  have  been  builded  to- 
gether as  far  as  the  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities. 
Reward  to  her  even  as  she  rewarded,  and  double  double  according  to 
her  works ;  in  the  cup  which  she  mixed,  mix  for  her  double  ;  insomuch 
as  she  glorified  herself  and  was  wanton,  to  that  proportion  give  to  her 
torment  and  grief;  because  she  saith  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen  and  am 
not  a  widow,  and  shall  see  no  mourning ;  therefore  in  one  day  shall 
come  her  plagues,  death,  and  mourning,  and  famine,  and  with  fire 
shall  she  be  burnt,  because  strong  the  Lord  who  hath  judged  her. 

HAYING  already  consumed  two  evenings  in 
our  endeavors  to  identify  and  understand 
what  is  meant  by  Great  Babylon,  w^e  come  now  to 
the  consideration  of  her  final  fall. 

But  before  proceeding  directly  to  that  subject, 
VOL.  in.  68  (  159  ) 


IQQ  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

it  may  be  well  first  to  relieve  a  perplexity  into 
which  some  may  have  fallen  by  reason  of  what  I 
have  said  concerning  the  restoration  of  the  literal 
city  of  Babylon. 

When  we  speak  of  the  day  of  the  Lord,  or  the 
judgment  period,  many  have  the  notion  that  it  is 
but  one  day,  or  a  very  brief  space  of  time.  They 
are  consequently  led  to  wonder  how  we  can  speak 
of  the  impending  nearness  of  that  day,  and  yet 
look  for  the  rebuilding  of  a  great  city  then  to  be 
destroyed.  The  ditiiculty,  however,  does  not  lie 
in  the  nature  of  the  things,  but  in  the  popular 
misapprehensions  of  what  the  day  of  the  Lord 
means,  and  the  length  of  the  period  which  it 
covers.  The  mistake  is  in  taking  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  or  the  coming  again  of  our  Saviour,  as  if 
one  particular  moment  of  time,  and  one  single 
event  or  scene  were  to  be  understood.  What  the 
Scriptures  describe  as  the  day  of  the  Lord,  and 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  is  no  more  limited 
to  a  single  event  or  moment  of  time  than  was  the 
day  of  his  first  coming,  which  extended  over  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  embraced  various  stages  and 
successive  presentations.  If  we  take  the  proph- 
ecies concerning  the  first  advent,  we  find  it  impos- 
sible to  apply  them  to  any  one  day,  year,  or  scene, 
in  the  evangelic  history.  Micah  said  that  Christ 
should  '^come^'  out  of  Bethlehem  (Ephratah),  but 
Hosea  said  that  he  would  come  "out  of  Egypt." 
Malachi  said  that  he  should  "suddenly  come  to 
his  temple,"  and  Zechariah  that  he  would  come 
to  Zion  "  riding  upon  an  ass,  upon  a  colt  the  foal 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.     18:1-8.  IgJ 

of  an  ass;"  whilst,  according  to  Isaiah,  'Hhe  land 
of  Zebulim  and  the  land  of  I^aphtali  *'  were  to 
see  the  "great  light."  Ail  these  presentations 
were  his  coming.  He  did  come  when  he  was 
born  at  Bethlelera;  he  did  come  oat  of  Egypt; 
he  did  come  when  he  announced  himself  at  Naz- 
areth; he  did  come  as  a  great  light  among  the 
people  of  Northern  Galilee;  he  did  come  riding 
into  Jerusalem  on  the  ass;  he  did  come  suddenly 
to  his  temple  when  he  twice  drove  out  the  money- 
changers; and  he  came  when  he  reappeared  after 
his  resurrection.  Each  one  of  these  particular 
incidents  is  alike  called  his  coming  ;  but  they  were 
only  so  many  separate  presentations,  at  different 
dates,  extending  through  a  period  of  thirty-three 
years,  all  of  w^hich  together  are  required  to  make 
up  the  first  advent  as  a  whole.  And  just  as  it  was 
then,  so  it  will  be  again.  The  second  coming,  like 
the  first,  is  complex  and  distributive,  extending 
through  a  variety  of  successive  and  diverse  scenes, 
stages,  events,  and  manifestations,  requiring  as 
many,  if  not  still  more,  years.  Just  what  length 
of  time  \v\\\  intervene  between  the  first  and  sud- 
den catching  away  of  the  watching  and  ready 
saints,  and  the  final  overthrow  of  Babylon  and 
Antichrist,  we  may  not  be  able  precisely  to  deter- 
mine; but  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  it  will  be  a 
goodly  number  of  years.  Antichrist  reigns  for  a 
full  week  of  years, — that  is  seven  years, — three 
and  a  half  as  the  friend  and  patron  of  the  Israel- 
itish  people,  and  three  and  a  half  as  the  great 
Beast.  (Dan.  10:27;  Rev.  11:2;  12  :  6.)    But  th^ 


162 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Antichrist  is  not  revealed  until  after  the  Hinderer 
is  taken  away ;  who  is  only  taken  away  when  the 
saints  are  removed,  the  removal  of  whom  is  the 
taking  away  of  the  Hinderer.  The  Antichrist 
does  not  appear  at  all  amid  the  scenes  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse until  after  the  seven  seals  have  been  opened, 
and  six  of  the  succeeding  trumpets  have  been 
sounded.  How  many  years  those  seals  and  the  six 
trumpets  may  consume  we  are  not  informed,  but 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  may  be 
counted  by  tens,  if  not  by  scores,  subsequent  to 
the  opening  of  the  door  in  the  heaven  and  the 
taking  up  of  the  saints,  which  is  the  first  act  in 
the  great  drama.  The  space  occupied  in  narrating 
what  occurs  under  the  seals  and  trumpets  would 
indicate  this.  The  long  waiting  of  the  Ten  Virgins 
for  the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom,  which  is  sub- 
sequent to  the  first  translation,  indicates  the  same 
thing.  Forty  years,  at  least,  perhaps  a  whole  jubi- 
lee period  of  fifty  years,  or  even  a  full  seventy 
years,  answering  to  the  period  during  which  the 
judgment  was  upon  Israel  for  its  sins,  are  likely 
to  be  embraced  in  what  the  Scriptures  call  the  day 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  second  coming  and  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

Supposing,  then,  that  Bab34on  should  not  even 
begin  to  be  rebuilt  until  after  the  day  of  the  Lord 
has  commenced  in  the  rapture  of  the  eagle-saints 
(Luke  17  :  34-37 ;  1  Thess.  4  :  14-17 ;  Eev.  4  : 1), 
there  still  would  be  ample  time  for  it  to  come  up 
in  all  the  grandeur  and  force  indicated  before  the 
great  acts  of  destruction  in  which  that  day  reaches 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  Ig3 

its  consummation.     Much  can  be  accomplished  in 
ibrty,  lifty,  or  seventy  years. 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  the  guest  of  a  man, 
scarcely  older  than  myself,  who  was  already  grown, 
and  secretary  of  a  frontier  trading  company,  before 
the  first  dwelling  was  built  of  w^hat  is  now  the 
great  and  powerful  city  of  Chicago.  And  if  the 
rich  merchants,  money-kings,  and  great  mercantile 
organizations  of  the  world  were  to  unite  for  the 
establishment  of  such  a  centre  of  wealth, influence, 
and  trade,  as  the  foreshowings  are  respecting  great 
Babylon,  with  the  treasures,  facilities,  and  energies 
that  would  at  once  be  brought  to  bear,  a  much 
shorter  time  would  be  required  to  realize  all  that 
has  been  foretold,  even  if  nothing  special  were  to 
occur  to  hasten  the  project.  But  the  indications 
are  that  there  will  be  special  providences  in  its 
favor.  Zechariah  saw  the  winds  of  heaven  filling 
the  wings  and  favoring  the  flight  of  the  two  women 
bearing  the  ephah  to  its  house  in  the  land  of 
Shinar.  It  will  then  be  the  midst  of  the  judgment 
time,  when  great  and  startling  events  are  to  suc- 
ceed each  other  in  quick  succession,  when  things 
will  move  under  other  and  mightier  impulses  than 
now,  and  when  God  in  the  administrations  of  His 
wrath  upon  nations  and  systems  will  hurry  them 
on  to  the  destructions  which  await  them,  or  so 
give  them  over  to  the  spirits  and  powers  of  hell 
because  of  their  unbelief,  that  the  most  wonderful 
changes  and  achievements  will  go  forward  with  a 
celerity  of  which  we  now  have  no  conception. 
And  even  if  the  great  day  of  the  Lord  should 


154  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

break  in  upon  the  world  this  night,  it  would  not 
at  all  embarrass  the  idea,  or  prevent  the  possibility 
of  the  restoration  of  old  Babylon  in  all  the  mag- 
nificence and  power  ascribed  to  her  in  these  chap- 
ters.    The  time  would  stlil  be  ample  for  it  all. 

But  it  is  with  the  fall  of  Babylon,  and  not  with 
the  time  and  incidents  of  her  restoration  from 
present  depression  that  we  are  now  concerned. 
God  help  us  to  understand  it  as  we  should! 

A  glorious  being  from  heaven  appears.  To 
John  he  seems  like  an  angel,  but  quite  "another" 
from  the  one  who  was  showing  him  these  things. 
This  angel  does  not  speak  from  heaven,  but  comes 
down  out  of  the  heaven.  He  comes  also  with 
"  great  authority."  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
it  is  Christ  himself  whom  we  are  to  see  in  this 
angel  ;  for  the  Father  "  hath  given  him  authority 
to  execute  judgment,  because  he  is  the  Son  of 
Man."  (Jno.  5  :  27.)  When  Satan  was  cast  out  of 
heaven  the  celestial  worshippers  celebrated  this 
e^uuffta^  authority,  dominion,  or  power,  as  the  par- 
ticular possession  of  Christ,  who  is  appointed  to 
"  put  down  all  rule  and  all  authority  and  power." 
(Cor.  15  :  24.)  It  is  said  that  "  the  earth  was  lighted 
up  from  his  glory. '^  Such  language  is  nowhere 
used  concerning  created  angels,  but  is  quite  com- 
mon to  all  the  prophets  with  regard  to  our  Divine 
King  and  Saviour.  The  Psalmist  (72  :  18,  19) 
blesses  the  glorious  name  of  the  Lord  God  of  Is- 
rael, and  speaks  of  a  scene  in  which  "the  whole 
earth  is  tilled  with  his  glory."  Isaiah  (6 :  1-3),  in 
bis  vision  of  the  enthroned  Messiah,  heard  the 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.     18:1-8.  ^^5 

seraphim  cry,  "  The  whole  earth  is  full  of  his 
glory."  Ezekiel  (43  :  2)  beheld  the  glory  of  the 
God  of  Israel  coming  from  the  way  of  the  East, 
and  says :  "  His  voice  was  like  the  noise  of  many 
waters  [answering  to  the  ^  mighty  voice '  here], 
and  the  earth  shined  with  his  glory/'  The  gar- 
ment of  Jehovah  is  light,  and  such  intense  lumi- 
nousness  everywhere  attaches  to  what  is  divine; 
whilst  the  enlightening  of  things  by  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  Lamb  is  specially  spoken  of  in  these 
visions.  (Rev.  21 :  23;  22  :  25.)  We  are  not  likely 
to  be  mistaken,  then,  in  taking  this  angel  for  the 
Lord  Jesus  himself,  and  the  more  so  as  the  remem- 
brance of  Great  Babylon  to  give  to  her  the  cup  of 
the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of  divine  wrath  is  spe- 
cially said  to  be  "  in  the  presence  of  God^^  as  if  God 
in  Christ  were  then  manifested  and  personally  re- 
vealed upon  the  earth.  (Chap.  16  :  19.) 

From  this  glorious  being  the  word  goes  forth  in 
tremendous  power:  '-'- Fallen^  Fallen^  Babylon  the 
Great  J'  It  is  not  simply  the  word  of  information 
as  to  what  has  been  or  what  is  to  be,  but  the  word 
which  effects  what  it  describes, — the  word  which 
brings  Great  Babylon  down,  and  makes  it  "a  hab- 
itation of  demons,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean 
spirit,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  and  hateful 
bird."  The  twice-repeated  word  describes  two 
separate  parts  or  stages  of  the  fall,  answering 
to  the  two  aspects  in  which  Babylon  is  con- 
templated, referring  first  to  Babylon  in  mystery, 
as  a  system  or  spirit  of  false  worship,  and  second 
to  Babylon  as  a  city,  in  which  this  system  or  spirit 


166 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


is  finally  embodied.  The  thrice-repeated  cry  of 
"  woe,  woe,  woe,"  in  chapter  8  :  18,  meant  three 
distinct  woes,  as  the  subsequent  account  makes 
plain;  and  so  here,  the  twice-repeated  "fallen, 
fallen,"  means  two  distinct  falls.  The  first  fall,  or 
the  fall  of  Babylon  in  mystery,  is  accomplished 
through  the  agency  of  the  Beast  in  confederation 
with  the  ten  kings  (chap.  17  :  16, 17),  which  occurs 
soon  after  the  Antichrist  is  fully  revealed;  but 
after  the  denudation  and  burning  which  they  in- 
flict, she  is  represented  as  still  existing  as  a  city, 
who  sits  as  a  boastful  queen,  promising  herself  an 
immortality  of  worldly  glory,  and  from  which 
certain  people  are  called  out  that  they  may  not 
share  her  doom.  Two  falls  are  thus  inevitably 
implied,  and  the  last  is  more  than  three  years  after 
the  first;  for  the  reign  of  the  Beast  is  three  and 
one-half  years,  and  the  setting  up  of  the  enforced 
worship  of  his  image,  and  hence  the  first  great 
Babylonian  disaster  occurs  at  the  beginning  of 
those  years,  whilst  the  final  catastrophe  occurs  at 
the  pouring  out  of  the  last  bowl  of  wrath,  which 
sweeps  the  Beast  as  well  as  Great  Babylon  to  per- 
dition. 

But  before  the  mighty  word  of  this  glorious 
angel  goes  into  full  efiect  upon  the  final  Babylon, 
a  voice  from  heaven  says :  "  Come  out  of  her,  my 
people,  that  ye  may  have  no  fellowship  in  her  sins,  and 
that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues.'^  It  seems  that 
there  will  be  children  of  Abraham  among  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  final  Babylon,  for  wherever  there  is 
great  trade  and  banking  we  may  expect  to  find 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18  :  1-8.  IQJ 

Jews,  and  these  are  the  people  to  whom  this  call 
is  made.  If  the  glorious  angel  is  Christ,  it  is  the 
Father  who  here  speaks,  and  who  now  again  ac- 
knowledges Israel  as  his  earthly  people.  The 
New  Testament  Church  is  here  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Every  divinely  acknowledged  part  of  that 
has  been  by  this  time  taken,  and  is  with  the  Lord 
Jesus  in  heaven.  But  the  times  of  the  Gentiles 
being  fulfilled,  the  Lo  Ammi  (not  my  people)  is 
reversed  with  regard  to  Israel,  and  this  is  the  time 
when  the  Spirit  comes  upon  them  again,  and  they 
are  recovered  to  life  and  salvation.  Jeremiah 
(50  :  4-9)  writes :  "  In  those  days,  and  in  that  time 
[the  very  time  of  the  threatened  destruction  of 
Babylon],  saith  the  Lord,  the  children  of  Israel  ^h^W 
come,  they  and  the  children  of  Judah  together,  ^^^^^^ 
and  weeping:  they  shall  go  and  seek  the  Lord 
their  God.  They  shall  ask  the  way  to  Zion  with 
their  faces  thitherward,  saying.  Come,  let  us  join 
ourselves  to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  covenant  that 
shall  not  be  forgotten.  My  people  hath  been  lost 
sheep ;  their  shepherds  have  caused  them  to  go 
astray,  they  have  turned  them  away  on  the  moun- 
tains ;  they  have  gone  from  mountain  to  hill,  they 
have  forgotton  their  resting-place.  All  that  found 
them  have  devoured  them ;  and  their  adversaries 
said.  We  offend  not,  because  they  have  sinned 
against  the  Lord,  the  habitation  of  justice,  even 
the  Lord,  the  hope  of  their  fathers."  And  in  im- 
mediate connection  with  this  description  the  com- 
mand is :  "  Remove  out  of  the  midst  of  Babylon,  and 
go  forth  ont  of  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  be  as 


IQg  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  he  goats  before  the  flocks."  ''Flee  out  of  the 
midst  of  Babylon,  and  deliver  every  7nan  his  soul;  be 
not  cut  off  in  her  iniquity;  for  this  is  the  time  of  the 
Lord's  vengeance;  he  will  render  unto  her  a  rec- 
ompense" (51:  6).  ''My  j^eople,  go  ye  out  of  the 
midst  of  her,  and  deliver  ye  every  man  his  soul  from 
the  tierce  anger  of  the  Lord"  (verse  45).  "  Though 
Babylon  should  mount  up  to  heaven,  and  though  she 
should  fortify  the  height  of  her  strength,  yet  from  me 
shall  the  spoiler  come  unto  her,  saith  the  Lord  "  (53). 
"And  I  will  make  drunk  her  princes,  and  her  wise 
men,  her  captains,  and  her  rulers,  atid  her  mighty 
men  :  and  they  shall  sleep  a  perpetual  sleep,  and 
not  awake,  saith  the  King  whose  name  is  Lord  of 
hosts  "(57).  Thus  beautifully  and  unmistakably 
do  the  records  of  the  ancient  prophet  explain  what 
the  Apocalyptic  seer  was  shown.  The  merciful 
providence  of  God  has  by  this  time  again  taken 
hold  on  the  long-rejected  children  of  Israel  and 
Judah,  and  such  of  them  as  are  in  Babylon  are 
divinely  warned  of  what  is  coming,  and  brought 
away  from  the  impending  destruction,  as  Lot  was 
called  out  of  doomed  Sodom  (Gen.  19  :  16-22),  and 
as  the  people  in  Moses'  time  were  called  to  get 
them  up  from  the  tents  of  Dathan  and  Abiram  in 
the  day  that  judgment  came  upon  these  rebels 
(Numb.  16 :  23-26). 

The  particular  calamities  which  then  break  forth 
are  described  as  death,  mourning,  famine,  and  burn- 
ing with  fire.  Both  the  calling  out  of  those  who 
are  not  to  share  Babylon's  doom,  and  the  nature 
of  these  inflictions  immediately  following,  prove 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  Jgg 

that  a  literal  city  is  meant.  Part  of  the  trouble  is 
also  of  just  such  a  character  as  to  fall  in  with  the 
idea,  and  so  to  prove  that  that  city  is  Babylon,  and 
that  the  drying  up  of  the  waters  of  the  Euphrates 
under  the  sixth  bowl  of  wrath  is  a  literal  occur- 
rence. Terrible  mortality  and  famine  would  be 
the  natural  and  inevitable  result  of  the  failure  of 
that  river  to  a  city  built  upon  it,  and  so  dependent 
on  its  w^aters.  All  her  shipping  would  thus  be 
disabled.  All  the  fertility  of  her  gardens  and  sur- 
rounding country  would  be  turned  to  dust  and  bar- 
renness. The  exposed  and  stagnant  filth  of  so 
great  a  river,  together  with  the  decaying  vegeta- 
tion for  the  space  of  nearly  2000  miles,  would  be 
a  source  of  deadly  pestilence,  which  no  skill  or 
power  of  man  could  abate  or  stay.  With  such  a 
plague  over  all  the  place  all  helpers  would  fear  to 
approach,  their  markets  would  be  unsupplied, 
their  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world, 
already  so  largely  emptied  and  desolated  by  the 
march  of  the  kings  with  their  armies  to  the  scene 
of  battle  against  the  Lamb,  would  be  without  avail. 
And  thus  black  death  and  helpless  want  would 
stalk  through  every  street,  and  highway,  and  lane, 
and  alley,  of  the  whole  city,  and  fill  all  the  region 
round  about  with  unexampled  suffering,  mourn- 
ing, and  horror. 

And  amid  it  all  comes  the  great  unprecedented 
earthquake,  by  which  the  cities  of  the  nations  are 
thrown  down.  Fires  break  forth,  and  there  is  no 
water  to  extinguish  them,  and  no  hands  to  apply 
it  if  it  were  to  be  found.     The  whole  city  burns 


170  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

to  ashes,  and  all  its  population  with  it,  "  as  when 
God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,''  making 
the  very  land  vitreous  round  about. 

Thus  would  be  fulfilled  what  Isaiah  sung: 
"  Come  down,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  O  virgin  daugh- 
ter of  Babylon;  sit  on  the  ground;  there  is  no 
throne,  O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans;  for  thou 
shalt  no  more  be  called  tender  and  delicate.  Sit 
thou  silent,  and  get  thee  into  darkness,  0  daughter 
of  the  Chaldeans ;  for  thou  shalt  no  more  be  called, 
the  lady  of  kingdoms.  Thou  saidst,  '  I  shall  be  a 
lady  forever,'  so  that  thou  didst  not  lay  these  things 
to  thy  heart,  neither  didst  remember  the  latter  end 
of  it.  Therefore  hear  now  this,  thou  that  art  given 
to  pleasures,  that  dwellest  carelessly,  that  sayest  in 
thine  heart, 'I  am,  and  none  else  beside  me;  I 
shall  not  sit  as  a  widow,  neither  shall  I  know  the 
loss  of  children;'  these  two  things  shall  come  to 
thee  in  a  moment,  in  one  day,  the  loss  of  children 
and  widowhood ;  they  shall  come  upon  thee  in  their 
perfection,  for  the  multitudes  of  thy  services,  and 
for  the  great  abundance  of  thine  enchantments. 
For  thou  hast  trusted  in  thy  wickedness;  thou 
hast  said,  'None  seeth  me.'  Thy  wisdom  and  thy 
knowledge,  it  has  perverted  thee ;  and  thou  hast 
said  in  thine  heart,  'I  am,  and  none  else  beside 
me.'  Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee;  and 
thou  shalt  not  know  from  whence  it  riseth ;  and 
mischief  shall  fall  upon  thee ;  thou  shalt  not  be  able 
to  put  it  off;  and  desolation  shall  come  upon  thee 
suddenly,  which  thou  shalt  not  know.  Stand  now 
with  thine  enchantments,  and  with  the  multitude 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  171 

of  thy  sorceries,  wherein  thou  hast  labored  from 
thy  youth  ;  if  so  be  thou  shalt  be  able  to  profit,  if 
so  be  thou  may  est  prevail.  Thou  art  wearied  in 
the  multitude  of  thy  counsels.  Let  now  the  as- 
trologers, the  star-gazers,  the  monthly  prognosti- 
cators,  stand  up,  and  save  thee  from  these  things 
that  shall  come  upon  thee.  Behold,  they  shall  be 
as  stubble;  the  fire  shall  burn  them;  they  shall 
not  deliver  themselves  from  the  power  of  the 
flame.''  (Isa.  47  : 1-15.) 

Babylon  burned  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  of 
God,  and  her  end  is  a  conflagration,  which  leaves 
nothing  of  her.  As  the  Lord  said  by  Jeremiah, 
so  it  Cometh  to  pass :  "I  will  render  unto  Babylon, 
and  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Chaldea,  all  their  evil 
that  they  have  done  in  Zion.''  (Jer.  51 :  24.)  The 
voice  from  the  heaven  says  that  her  iniquities  come 
into  remembrance.  So  long  a  time  had  passed 
since  the  early  wickednesses  of  Babylon  that  it 
might  seem  as  if  Jehovah  had  forgotten  them,  or 
never  meant  to  recall  them  to  mind ;  but  the  last 
Babylon  is  but  the  final  outgrowth  of  the  same 
principles  and  spirit  which  animated  the  first,  and 
is  so  interiorly  identified  with  that  same  old  apos- 
tasy that  all  the  old  oflences  come  forward  again 
with  the  new,  and  help  to  inflame  the  final  ven- 
geance; just  as  the  full  punishment  of  the  sin  of 
Israel  respecting  the  golden  calf  is  not  yet  over 
(Ex.  32  :  34),  and  as  all  the  martyr  blood  of  all  the 
ages  still  cries  to  be  further  avenged. 

In  connection  with   these   final   plagues   upon 
Babylon  the  voice  from  heaven  says  :  "  Render  to 


172  '^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

her  even  as  she  rewarded^  and  double  [the'\  double  ac- 
cording to  her  works  ;  in  the  cup  which  she  mixed^  mix 
for  her  double  ;  insomuch  as  she  glorified  herself  and 
was  wa7itony  to  that  proportion  give  to  her  torment  and 
grief. ^'  Some  take  this  as  a  commission  to  the  re- 
turning house  of  Israel,  which  is  to  become  a  cup 
of  trembling  and  a  burdensome  stone  to  the  people 
round  about  in  connection  with  these  events ;  but 
I  do  not  so  understand  it.  Israel  will  at  that  time 
be  so  inclosed,  and  under  the  heel  of  the  great 
beast,  as  to  be  quite  disabled  from  such  an  office 
until  Christ  himself  has  gone  forth  to  avenge 
them  of  their  enemies.  Besides,  the  final  judg- 
ment upon  Great  Babylon  is  so  miraculous  and 
direct  from  heaven,  that  mere  earthly  agents  have 
but  little  to  do  with  it,  if  anything.  There  is  also 
another  and  far  mightier  class  of  operators  in  the 
infliction  of  these  great  judgments.  Angels  are 
concerned,  and  the  descended  Son  of  God  himself. 
But  there  are  others  in  addition  to  these,  and 
taking  part  with  them  in  these  administrations. 
Among  the  promises  to  the  overcomers  out  of  the 
seven  churches,  was  one  that  they  should  have 
authority  over  the  nations,  and  rule  or  judge  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  break  them  to  shivers  as  a 
vessel  of  pottery  is  dashed  to  pieces  (Rev.  2  :  26,  27). 
Of  old  it  was  sung  of  the  saints  in  glory,  that, 
with  the  praises  of  God  in  their  mouth,  and  a 
two-edged  sword  in  their  hand,  they  should  exe- 
cute vengeance  upon  the  nations,  even  punishments 
upon  the  people,  to  bind  their  kings  w^ith  chains, 
and  their  nobles  with  fetters  of   iron,  to  execute 


LECTURE   XL.    CHAP.    18  :  1-8.  J 73 

upon  them  the  judgment  that  is  written.  "  This  honor 
have  all  the  saints/'  (Ps.  149  :  5-9.)  Paul  reminded 
the  Corinthians,  as  if  indignant  at  their  low  ap- 
preciation of  the  Christian  calling:  '^ Do  ye  not 
know  that  the  saints  shall  judge  the  ivorld  f  "  (1  Cor. 
6  :  2.)  Of  the  mystic  man-child  caught  up  to  God 
and  to  his  throne,  the  record  was  that  he  should 
rule  or  shepherdize  all  the  nations  with  a  rod  of 
iron.  (Rev.  12:5.)  When  the  Beast  and  the  False 
Prophet,  and  their  allied  kings  and  armies  perish 
at  Harraageddon,  the  saint-armies  of  heaven, 
robed  in  fine  linen,  and  riding  on  white  horses, 
are  those  taking  part  in  the  terrible  vengeance 
then  to  be  executed.  (Rev.  19 :  11-21.).  And  it 
would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  in  the  rendition  of 
final  judgment  upon  Babylon,  which  sends  a  thrill 
of  joy  through  all  the  holy  universe,  they  were  to 
have  neither  place  nor  part.  To  these,  then,  and 
to  all  the  avenging  powers  of  heaven,  are  we  to 
consider  this  direction  and  commission  to  be  ad- 
dressed. 

In  the  days  of  mercy  and  forbearance  God  is 
not  strict  to  mark  iniquity,  or  to  punish  it  at  once 
according  to  its  deserts.  There  is  much  that  he 
winks  at  and  suffers  to  pass  for  the  present.  But 
it  is  all  written  in  his  book,  and  when  the  final 
recompense  comes  there  is  no  more  sparing.  As 
the  sinner  has  measured,  so  it  will  be  measured  to 
him  again.  It  is  an  awful  thought,  but  true,  that 
by  the  ills  and  wrongs  which  people  do  on  earth 
they  are  themselves  setting  the  gauge  or  measure 


274  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

by  which  they  are  to  have  judgment  dealt  to  them 
at  the  last. 

The  language  here  might  seem  to  imply  that 
God  meant  to  double  up  vengeance  upon  Babylon 
without  proportion  to  her  deservings  ;  but  a  more 
attentive  consideration  shows  that  such  is  not  the 
case.  God  is  always  just,  and  the  duplication  and 
intensifying  of  the  torment  and  grief  still  has  a 
righteous  rule  underlying  it.  The  judgment  is  to 
be  double,  and  double  double ;  but  it  is  to  be  "  as 
she  rewarded,'^ — ^^  according  to  her  ivorks,'' — a  cup  of 
mixture  such  as  she  herself  gave,  doubled  because 
her  administration  was  only  half  of  her  iniquity. 
There  mg,y  be  great  self-sins,  over  and  above  the  sins 
against  rights  and  peace  of  others.  And  such  are 
here  charged  against  Baby  Ion,  even  blasphemy,  self- 
honor,  self-security,  wantonness,  and  the  deification 
of  wealth  and  luxury.  For  these,  as  well  as  for  the 
cup  of  uncleanness  and  oppression  given  by  her  to 
others,  the  cup  is  doubled  to  her.  Her  real  evilness 
is  double,  and  she  must  drink  her  own  cup  double. 
She  is  herself  double,  being  both  a  system  of  abom- 
inations, and  a  city  of  abominations;  and  what  is 
visited  upon  the  one  is  repeated  or  duplicated  on 
the  other. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  that  Great  Babylon  will 
be  blotted  from  the  earth,  "  as  in  the  day  when 
God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,"  and  so 
fulfil  to  the  letter  all  that  the  old  prophets  have 
spoken.  The  symbolic  act  which  Jeremia?i  com- 
manded Seraiah  to  perform  at  Babylon  to  signify 
the  utter  extinction   that  was  to  come  upon  her 


LECTURE    XL.      CHAP.     18:1-8.  175 

(Jer.  51 :  63,  64),  John  beholds  repeated  in  a  still 
more  striking  form :  "J.  mighty  angel  took  uj)  a  stone, 
as  a  great  millstone,  and  cast  [if]  into  the  sea,  saying, 
Thus  loiih  a  bound  shall  the  great  city  Babylon  be  cast 
down,  and  shall  not  be  found  any  more." 

When  Jesus  was  upon  the  earth,  he  said : 
"  Whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which 
believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  mill- 
stone were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he 
were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea."  (Matt. 
18  :  6.)  But  who  or  what  is  a  greater  stumbling- 
block  to  the  believers  in  God,  and  to  the  faith  of 
Jehovah's  humble  worshippers,  than  Great  Baby- 
lon !  In  every  form  in  which  she  has  existed,  and 
through  all  the  ages,  in  all  the  world,  she  has  been 
holding  up  the  golden  cup  of  her  abominations 
wherewith  she  has  intoxicated  and  demented  the 
nations,  and  filled  the  whole  earth  with  spiritual 
madness.  Therefore,  to  her  neck  the  stone  is 
hanged,  and  into  the  depths  she  is  cast,  descending 
with  still  increasing  speed  towards  the  seething 
abyss  of  everlasting  fires. 

Babylon  is  a  region  full  of  bitumen.  The  mor- 
tar of  its  buildings  from  the  beginning  was  not 
clay,  but  bituminous  slime.  All  the  earth  around 
it  is,  therefore,  full  of  inflammable  material,  as  was 
the  vale  of  Siddim  before  the  conflagration  of  the 
cities  of  the  plain,  which  was  "full  of  slime-pits," 
so  that  when  the  fiery  judgment  of  God  de- 
scended, and  it  began  to  rain  "brimstone  and  fire 
out  of  heaven,''  the  thunderbolts  ignited  the  oil- 
springs,  and  naphtha,  and  petroleum,  and  bitumi- 
voL.  III.  69 


176  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

nous  wells,  till  "  all  the  land  of  the  plain  glowed 
and  burned  as  a  furnace,"  sinking  as  the  burning 
went  on,  and  swallowing  up  the  doomed  cities  in 
a  literal  "  lake  of  fire,"  which  has  left  nothing  but 
a  dead  sea  and  everlasting  desolation  where  they 
stood.  With  corresponding  conditions  of  the 
ground,  and  the  ancient  prophets  assuring  us  that 
"  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldees'  excellency  shall  be 
as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  "  (Is. 
13:19;  Jer.  49  :  18 ;  50  :  40),  we  may  readily  infer 
something  of  the  nature  of  the  fires  amid  which 
Great  Babylon  is  to  find  her  perdition.  First  is 
the  drying  up  of  her  waters,  as  God  said  by  the 
mouth  of  Jeremiah,  '^I  will  dry  up  her  sea,  and 
make  her  springs  dry"  (Jer.  51:36);  then  the 
consequent  death-plague,  mourning,  and  famine; 
and  then  the  fires  which  run  over  her,  and  around 
her,  and  under  her,  feeding  on  the  parched  and 
pitchy  ground,  and  sinking  the  whole  region  into 
a  charred  and  igneous  desolation,  never  again  to 
be  inhabited.  Nimrod  called  it,  '^  'The  Gate  of 
God/'  and  lo,  it  proves  the  month  of  hell,  where  the 
unclean  spirits  throng,  and  the  very  filth  of  the 
universe  finds  its  hold !  The  world's  greatest 
power  was  concentrated  there,  which  all  the  kings 
of  the  earth  were  delighted  to  court  and  serve ;  but 
"in  one  hour"  all  her  greatness,  might,  and  maj- 
esty, come  to  nought.  She  was  a  mart  for  the 
nations,  enriching  multitudes  on  land  and  sea,  but 
in  one  day  the  harvest  of  her  soul's  desire  is  gone, 
and  all  her  bright  and  dainty  things  perished,  with 
no  one  left  to  buy  or  enjoy  them  any  more.     She 


LECTURE   XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  177 

had  "  great  riches/'  and  was  "  clothed  in  fine 
linen,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  decked  with 
gold,  and  precious  stone,  and  pearl,"  but  not  a 
scrap  or  fragment  of  all  her  costliness  and  treasure 
is  left.  She  was  the  very  paradise  of  musicians, 
harp-singers,  and  flute-players,  and  trumpeters; 
for  these  are  always  a  great  feature  and  one  of  the 
chief  glories  of  a  rich,  gay,  luxurious,  and  worldly 
city ;  but  every  note  is  silenced,  and  no  voice  of 
song,  or  dance,  or  opera,  is  ever  heard  there  again. 
The  finest  artists  and  artisans  of  the  world,  of 
every  order,  had  found  there  a  very  Golconda,  but 
in  one  hour  their  glorious  elysium  is  gone,  and 
they  and  their  works  with  it.  It  was  the  centre 
of  the  grandest  and  most  noted  of  bridals,  and  the 
sublime  resort  of  grand  bridal  tours,  but  with  one 
stroke  of  heaven's  judgment  ever}^  sound  of  joy 
is  hushed,  "  and  the  voice  of  bridegroom  and 
bride  "  ceases  to  be  heard  there  any  more. 

When  the  curse  upon  Jerusalem  was  spoken,  it 
was  that  "the  voice  of  mirth,  and  the  voice  of 
gladness,  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom,  and  the 
voice  of  the  bride,"  should  cease  from  her  streets 
(Jer.  7  :  34) ;  but  it  was  at  the  same  time  added 
that  God  would  "  restore  the  captivity  of  the  land, 
as  at  the  first,"  and  that,  in  the  place  of  the 
threatened  desolation,  there  should  yet  again  be 
"  the  voice  of  joy,  and  the  voice  of  gladness,  the 
voice  of  the  bridegroom,  and  the  voice  of  the 
bride,  the  voice  of  them  that  shall  say.  Praise  the 
Lord  of  hosts ;  for  the  Lord  is  good ;  for  his  mercy 
endureth  forever."  (Jer.  33  :  10,  11.)     But  in  the 


J78  'rHE    APOCALYPSE. 

case  of  Great  Babylon  there  is  to  be  no  recovery, 
no  restoration.  There  shall  be  no  remnant  left  to 
rebuild  it,  no  workman  to  lift  up  tool  to  recon- 
struct it,  no  mills  to  sound  there  any  more,  no 
light  of  candle  or  token  of  joj'ous  civilization  to 
shine  again  amid  its  darkness;  but  it  shall  be  "a 
habitation  of  demons,  and  ahold  of  every  unclean 
spirit,  and  a  hold  of  every  unclean  and  hated 
bird ;"  and  "  it  shall  be  no  more  inhabited  forever, 
neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to 
generation."  (Jer.  50  :  39,  40.) 

So  great  a  judgment  argues  gigantic  crimes. 
Glance  a  moment  then  at  these,  that  we  may  learn 
to  stand  in  awe  and  "  have  no  fellowship  in  her 
sins;"  for  it  does  not  require  that  we  should  live 
in  Babylon  when  she  falls  in  order  to  be  involved 
in  her  perdition.  Every  place  is  Babylon  to  them 
that  have  her  spirit  and  exhibit  her  iniquities,  and 
the  same  judgment  awaits  them. 

To  the  credit  of  Babylon's  worldly  greatness, 
but  also  as  a  marked  ingredient  of  what  procures 
her  doom,  it  is  said  :  *'  Thy  merchants  were  the  great 
men  of  the  earth.''  Most  people  would  see  no  crime 
in  that.  What  harm  is  there  in  buying  and  sell- 
ing and  getting  gain,  and  in  making  the  weight 
of  fortune  felt  according  to  its  greatness?^  Noth- 
ing, indeed,  if  no  wrong  spirit  is  under  it,  and  no 
wrong  principles  animate  the  accumulation,  or 
control  its  management  w4ien  it  is  made.  But, 
the  son  of  Sirach  hath  truly  said:  *'As  a  nail 
sticketh  fast  between  the  joinings  of  stones,  so 
doth  sin  stick  close  between  buying  and  selling." 


LECTURE    XL.     CHAP.    18:1-8.  ]79 

jiEcclesiasticus  17  :  2.)  And  commerce  is  certainly 
mdicated  as  the  chief  vehicle,  support,  and  em- 
bodiment of  the  great  defiling  wickedness  of  the 
last  days.  In  the  bushel  measure,  and  under  the 
weighing  talent,  sits  the  Woman  whom  the  angel 
says  is  Wickedness.  Nor  should  it  be  thought 
strange  that  commerce,  and  the  machinery  con- 
nected therewith,  should  supply  the  formative 
principles  of  a  great  and  godless  apostasy.  Is 
there  a  prominent  country  now  on  earth  in  which 
commerce  does  not  rule,  or  where  things  are  not 
all  being  determined  by  commercial  principles, 
ideas,  and  interests  ?  •'  Have  we  heard  nothing 
respecting  the  wondrous  results  expected  from 
commerce  in  making  nations  happy,  in  bringing 
men  together  in  ties  of  amity  and  brotherhood,  in 
developing  the  resources  of  the  earth,  in  making 
nations  conscious  of  their  mutual  dependence  on 
each  other,  and  so  effecting,  by  the  suggestions  of 
self-interest,  a  result  which  the  Gospel  (it  is  said) 
has  failed  to  accomplish.  These  and  such  like 
sayings  are  continually  being  sounded  in  our  ears. 
I^OY  can  we  say  that  they  are  altogether  untrue,  or 
that  there  is  no  wisdom  in  them."  (B.  W.  New- 
ton.) But  who  that  looks  with  an  attentive  eye  but 
can  see  in  it  the  coming  forth  of  a  wisdom  which 
is  not  from  above,  but  which  savors  of  him  who 
said  to  Jesus,  "All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if 
thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me."  Commerce 
is  not  necessarily  sinful.  Exchange  on  just  and 
right  principles  may  be  a  thing  of  beneficence  and 
good,  involving  nothing  against  God  or  his  truth. 


280  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

But  the  teudeucy  is  otherwise.  The  disposition  is 
to  concentration  and  consolidation  on  selfish  prin- 
ciples for  selfish  ends.  The  struggle  is  continually 
more  and  more  to  monopolize,  to  crush  out  rivalry 
and  competition,  and  to  enter  into  world-wide 
combinations  to  seize  first  one  interest  and  then 
another,  till  everything  is  finally  swallowed  up  in 
one  great  centralized  aristocracy  of  unbounded 
wealth,  to  which  all  the  kings  and  governments  on 
the  earth  must  truckle.  In  our  day  an  associa- 
tion of  merchants  has  commanded  the  riches  of 
the  Indian  seas,  dragged  along  with  it  the  armies 
and  legislation  of  England  to  eft'ect  its  ends,  and 
enriched  itself  at  the  sacrifice  of  innocent  blood, 
national  treasure,  and  every  honorable  principle, 
whilst  the  good  Queen  Victoria,  helpless  in  its 
hands,  must  submit  in  royal  gratitude  to  bear  for  it 
the  title  of  the  Empress  of  India !  The  eloquence 
of  a  Burke,  in  sentences  which  shall  never  die,  has 
given  a  tongue  to  a  few  of  the  abominations  which 
have  accompanied  those  administrations;  but  not 
a  moiety  of  them  has  been  told,  as  the}^  have  added 
stain  upon  stain  to  the  escutcheon  of  England,  and 
dishonored  the  whole  Anglo-Saxon  race.  This  is 
but  one  instance,  and  one  belonging  to  the  baby- 
hood of  these  great  commercial  combinations; 
what  then  may  we  not  expect  when  these  priv- 
ileged associations,  which  control  the  local  ex* 
changes,  money  markets,  and  commercial  affairs 
of  the  nations,  have  fully  consolidated,  and  a  great, 
united,  money  aristocracy,  takes  command  of  the 
commerce  of  the  world  ?    These  would  indeed  be 


LECTURE   XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  l^J 

"  the  great  men  of  the  earth,"  and  their  rule  would 
be  the  rule  of  the  earth. 

But  what  sort  of  a  rule  would  it  necessarily  be? 
Would  it  be  God's  kingdom  come,  and  God's  will 
done,  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven?  So  the  argu- 
ments and  oratory  of  the  priests  of  that  interest 
would  seem  to  say.  But,  is  it  so?  Can  it  possibly 
be  so  ?  Look  at  the  root-principle  of  these  com- 
mercial compacts.  Co-eqaality  of  man  with  man 
is  to  them  the  greatest  absurdity.  What  right,  or 
place,  or  standing,  can  a  man  who  has  no  money 
have  in  them  ?  Wealth  is  the  only  ticket  of  ad- 
mission, and  for  that  all  seats  are  absolutely  re- 
served. But  who  would  ever  think  of  going 
among  these  money-lords  and  bourse-kings  to 
find  saints  of  God!  There  are  some  rich  men 
from  whose  hearts  the  Holy  Ghost  has  not  been 
choked  out;  but  "  how  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  the  kingdom  of  God?  It  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  go  through  the  needle's  eye,  than  for  a 
rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kindom  of  God." 
(Mark  10  :  23-25.)  It  has  become  an  axiom  that 
"  corporations  have  no  souls,"  and  upon  this  all 
great  moneyed  corporations  act,  though  the  men 
who  constitute  them  will  find  out  a  difierent  doc- 
trine when  they  come  to  the  day  of  judgment. 
And  when  it  comes  to  these  great  and  ever  mag- 
nifying commercial  compacts  and  interests,  there 
is  not  a  law  of  God  or  man  which  is  not  compelled 
to  yield  if  found  in  the  way.  Protestant  and 
Papist,  Pagan  and  Jew,  Mohammedan  and  Infidel, 
believer  and  unbeliever,  Bible,  Talmud,  Vedas, 


132  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Shasters, Koran,  and  Book  of  Mormon,  are  all  alike, 
and  stand  in  these  organizations  on  one  and  the 
same  footing,  provided  only  that  there  is  power  of 
wealth  to  aid  and  direct  the  one  great  scramble  for 
the  world's  trade  and  riches.  If  the  question  were 
ever  pressed  in  these  circles.  What  is  truth?  it 
would  be  hooted  and  laughed  to  scorn.  The  cry 
would  be,  "  What  have  we  to  do  with  that  ?  Let 
every  one  quietly  enjoy  his  own  opinions.  Give 
each  a  share,  not  only  in  the  protection  of  the 
government,  but  in  its  fostering  and  sustaining 
care,  for  the  office  of  government  is  to  minister 
for  the  governed,  not  to  concern  itself  with  the 
laws  and  revelations  of  God.''  Accordingly,  also, 
the  greatest  mercantile  government  on  earth,  Eng- 
land, Protestant  England,  which  claims  to  main- 
tain the  only  true  church,  and  hails  all  her  sover- 
eigns as  "  Defenders  of  the  Faith,"  at  the  dictation 
and  demand  of  secular  and  commercial  interests 
makes  her  appropriations  to  Romish  institutions, 
salaries  Roman  priests  and  professors,  advances 
Jews  to  her  highest  offices,  expends  her  blood  and 
treasure  to  sustain  the  tottering  existence  of  the 
deadly  curse  of  Mohammedan  dominion,  pensions 
Brahmin  nobles,  and  pays  and  pampers  Pagan 
priests.  And  such  is  the  tendency  and  bearing 
of  legislation  in  general,  and  from  the  same  causes. 
Governments  are  in  the  hands  of  commerce  and 
the  money-kings;  and  commerce  knows  no  God 
but  gold,  and  no  law  but  self-interest  and  worldly 
gain.  Church  is  nothing,  State  is  nothing,  creed 
is  nothing,  Bible  is  nothing,  Sunday  is  nothing, 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  IS'3 

religious  scruples  are  nothing,  conscience  is 
nothing,  everything  is  practically  nothing,  except 
as  it  can  be  turned  or  used  to  the  one  great  end 
of  accumulation  and  wealth.  To  make  common 
cause  with  all  classes  of  men,  to  honor  Moham- 
medan festivals  and  Jewish  rites  alike  with  those 
commanded  by  the  one  only  rightful  King  of  the 
world,  to  pay  Hindoo  and  Romish  priests,  to  en- 
dow their  seminaries,  and  to  give  aid  and  comfort  to 
their  idolatries  alike  with  all  Christian  institutes, — 
which  is  now  not  only  being  done,  but  advocated 
and  defended  on  the  ground  that  this  is  the  only 
rightful  sphere  of  government,  and  these  the  only 
principles  on  which  the  true  progress  of  humanity 
depends, — is  already  the  incipient  dethronement 
of  all  positive  truth,  the  turning  of  it  into  a  lie,  or 
into  a  mere  ideal  thing  without  claims  upon  the 
human  soul;  the  systematic  inauguration  of  a  lati- 
tudinarian  infidelity,  removing  human  society  into 
many  degrees  of  greater  distance  from  God  than 
ever  it  has  been  in  all  the  ages.  And  when  once 
the  earth  has  come  to  acknowledge  the  represent- 
atives and  embodiments  of  such  a  s^^stem  of  ideas 
and  rule  as  its  true  and  only  ''great  men,''  there 
lies  couched  in  this  one  simple  statement  a  whole 
world  of  iniquitous  apostasy,  which  well  deserves 
the  doom  which  makes  an  end  of  Great  Babylon. 
Yes,  commerce  will  yet  have  an  account  to  settle, 
at  which  the  world  shall  shake. 

Another  ingredient  in  the  cup  of  Babylon's 
doom,  is  her  bewitching  sorcery,  by  which  she 
leads  all  the  nations  astray.     Some  understand  by 


184  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

this  that  she  is  to  be  the  great  patron  and  head 
centre  of  spiritism  and  necromancy.  Magicians 
constituted  an  integral  part  of  the  state  officials 
there  in  Daniel's  time,  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  a 
goodly  share  of  her  wisdom,  and  policy,  and  in- 
fluence, will  come  from  familiar  intercourse  with 
demons  and  their  unclean  teachings.  But  it  does 
not  seem  to  me  that  this  touches  the  nerve  of  what 
is  here  called  her  sorcery.  The  great  preponder- 
ating idea  which  runs  through  the  whole  descrip- 
tion, is  that  of  commercial  greatness,  success,  and 
power;  and  the  potent  and  contaminating  sorcery 
must  be  something  which  is  naturally  construable 
with  this, — some  bewitching  attractiveness  going 
along  with  a  mercantile  system,  and  drawing  after 
it  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of  the  world. 
Meretricious  allurement,  gathering  around  it  the 
homage  of  governments  and  kings,  is  the  idea. 
And  it  is  in  Great  Babylon's  management  to  en- 
noble her  chief  aims  and  spirit  that  we  are  to  find 
her  witchery. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  separate  traffic,  and  especi- 
ally great  commercial  combinations  and  schemes, 
from  covetousiiess,  which  is  idolatry.  But  naked 
covetousness  is  not  attractive.  Even  the  natural 
heart  is  repelled  by  it,  and  is  ready  to  condemn 
and  denounce  it.  When  the  possession  of  wealth 
is  made  the  final  end,  when  it  is  treasured  in  the 
coffer  and  not  expended,  or  when  means  disrepu- 
table are  adopted  for  its  attainment,  the  pursuit  of 
riches  is  regarded  with  disdain.  The  acquisition, 
under  such  circumstances,  is  connected  with  what 


LECTURE    XL.    CHAP.    18  :  1-8.  I35 

is  80  repulsive  to  pride,  and  taste,  and  respectabil- 
ities which  hold  in  approved  society,  that  it  meets 
ou\y  with  frowns  and  disfavor.  To  array  it  in  hon- 
orable garb,  to  dignify  it,  to  make  it  appear  good 
and  praiseworthy,  so  that  men  may  love,  bless,  and 
follow  it  as  something  noble  and  beneficent, — this 
is  what  calls  for  the  magician's  wand  and  the 
wizard's  power.  And  here  it  is  that  Great  Baby- 
lon's delusive  witchery  comes  in.  If  a  godless 
and  unscrupulous  commerce  can  be  made  to  ap- 
pear as  the  great  and  only  availing  civilizer,  if  it 
can  show  its  end  to  be,  not  only  the  welfare  of  in- 
dividuals, but  the  prosperit}'  of  nations  and  peo- 
ples; if  its  office  is  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  whole  earth,  and  for  that  end  visits 
every  land  and  traverses  every  sea ;  if  it  is  really 
the  great  stimulant  to  intellectual  effort,  the  helper 
of  science,  the  procurer  and  disseminator  of  all 
useful  wisdom  and  intelligence,  the  rewarder  of 
inventive  genius  and  engineering  skill,  the  self- 
sacrificing  handmaid  of  all  social,  moral,  and  legis- 
lative improvement;  if  it  is  not  the  mere  posses- 
sion of  wealth  for  its  own  sake,  but  to  secure  the 
beneficent  power,  and  influence  and  glory  to  result 
from  its  wise  and  proper  employment  that  makes 
up  the  end  and  aim  of  its  endeavors,  then  will  the 
ugliness  of  avarice  be  voided,  bitter  will  have  been 
made  sweet,  and  all  attendant  deflections  from 
right  and  truth  swallowed  up  in  the  grandeur,  and 
beauty,  and  beneficences  of  its  purposes.  The 
demon  of  covetousness  would  then  have  become 
an  angel  of  light.     A  halo  of  glory  would  encircle 


186 


THE    APCC  ALYPSE. 


its  head.  Nations  would  bail  its  undertakings, 
admire  its  enterprise,  and  praise  its  wonderful 
benignity.  The  arts  and  the  sciences,  the  muse- 
ums and  the  universities,  would  lay  their  chaplets 
at  its  feet.  Kings  and  governments  would  cheer- 
fully become  its  nurses  and  patrons.  Religions 
would  be  glad  to  bestow  upon  it  their  prayers  and 
benedictions.  The  apostles  and  prophets  of  this 
world's  progress  would  clap  their  hands  and  shout 
over  its  success.  And  myriads  would  celebrate  its 
triumph  as  the  ushering  in  of  the  long-dreamed 
millennium. 

And  here  is  the  sorcery  with  which  Great  Baby- 
lon leads  all  the  nations  astray.  Linking  the  false 
doctrines  of  human  progress  and  perfectibility  to 
the  worst  of  passions,  she  lures  the  world  to  her  sup- 
port, and  makes  mankind  the  willing  slave  of  her 
base  idolatry.  And  already,  from  pulpit  and  plat- 
form, from  philosopher  and  political  economist, 
from  orator  and  poet,  are  we  compelled  to  hear 
just  these  very  glorifications  of  the  cupidities  of 
man  as  the  forerunner,  if  not  the  instrument,  of 
this  world's  regeneration.  Alas,  for  such  philos- 
ophy and  such  hopes !  What  estimate  God  puts 
upon  them  may  be  learned  from  what  he  has  re- 
vealed of  the  doom  of  Babylon.  It  is  sorcery^  the 
penalty  for  which  is  death.  (Ex.  22  :  18.) 

I  can  mention  now  but  one  more  particular  in 
the  count  of  Great  Babylon's  sins,  and  that  is  her 
presumptuous  self-glorification,  conceit,  and  arro- 
gance. She  has  no  rights  of  kingdom  from  God 
or  man,  and  yet  she  presumes  to  bear  rule  over  all 


LECTURE   XL.    CHAP.    18:1-8.  ^37 

the  kings  of  the  earth,  to  dictate  their  policies,  to 
fashion  their  laws,  and  to  be  their  protector  and 
redeemer.  She  acknowledges  no  God,  no  Christ, 
no  Holy  Ghost,  and  yet  proposes  to  do  for  the 
world  what  she  assumes  to  be  beyond  the  power 
of  the  institutes  and  administrations  of  heaven. 
She  makes  no  claims  to  sacred  prophecy,  acknowl- 
edges no  sacred  books,  and  glories  in  being  en- 
tirely secular  in  her  sphere  and  aims,  and  yet  pre- 
sumes to  teach  the  nations  the  ways  and  means  of 
their  highest  prosperity  and  redemption,  and  to 
realize  for  them  their  sublimest  peace  and  good. 
She  is  but  human  in  her  derivation,  her  principles 
and  her  power,  and  purely  earthly  in  her  depend- 
ence, her  treasures,  and  her  glory;  yet  she  pre- 
sumes to  think  herself  invincible,  immortal,  and 
forever  sufficient  in  her  own  possessions  against 
all  adversity.  "  She  saith  in  her  hearty  I  sit  a  queen, 
and  am.  not  a  widow,  and  shall  see  no  m.ourning."  She 
thus  exalts  herself  over  the  Church  of  God,  in 
which  all  that  is  divine  on  earth  resides,  and  where 
the  preaching  has  ever  been  about  divine  sonship, 
and  kinghood,  and  a  glorious  kingdom,  but  to 
which  no  dominion  has  ever  come.  The  saints  ar^ 
to  reign ;  but  while  the  Devil  reigns  their  kingdom 
is  in  abeyance,  and  Babylon  taunts  them  and  con- 
gratulates herself  with  having  in  reality  what  they 
have  only  in  empty  promise.  They  do  not  reign; 
she  sits  a  queen.  While  Christ  is  away  the  Church 
is  in  widowhood;  her  husband  is  absent.  All  her 
hope  is  in  his  return.  Babylon  boasts  that  she  ex- 
periences no  such  privation.     She  is  no  widow. 


188 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Her  lovers  are  plenteous.  Her  joy  is  full.  She 
claims  to  have  in  fruition  what  the  Church  has  in 
mere  expectation.  The  people  of  God  have  per- 
petual sorrow  and  trial  on  earth.  Like  their  Lord, 
they  are  poor,  despised,  persecuted,  with  scarce  a 
place  to  lay  their  heads  in  peace  from  their  ene- 
mies. Great  Babylon  glories  in  being  far  above 
a  condition  so  mean,  or  vicissitudes  so  afflicting. 
She  is  rich;  she  is  mighty;  she  hath  all  her  nec- 
essary goods  secure;  she  is  not  the  one  to  see 
mourning.  Thus  she  vaunts,  professes,  and  glori- 
fies herself.  Though  the  world  from  the  begin- 
ning is  crowded  with  monuments  of  the  wrath  of 
heaven  upon  every  such  spirit,  and  though  through 
all  the  long  gallery  of  ages  the  voice  comes  echo- 
ing down,  "  They  thai  walk  in  pride  God  is  able  to 
abase,''  she  heeds  not  the  lesson,  and  defies  all 
judgment.  Hence  Jehovah  writes  it  once  more  in 
larger  letters,  drawn  with  the  black  cinders  of  her 
own  eternal  desolation,  that  all  the  universe  may 
read  and  tremble. 

Friends,  let  us  learn  the  lesson.  It  is  to  this  end 
that  all  these  things  have  been  written.  Partici- 
pation in  Great  Babylon's  sins  must  needs  bring 
Great  Babylon's  doom,  be  the  offender  who  or 
where  he  may.  And  to  but  little  avail  will  we 
have  considered  this  subject  if  it  does  not  serve 
to  imprint  upon  our  souls  at  least  this  one  eternal 
truth  of  God,  that  '''whosoever  exalteth  himself  shall 
be  abased;  and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  ex- 
alted:' (Luke  14 :  11.) 


LECTURE  FORTY-FIRST. 

SEQUENCES  OF  THE  FALL  OF  BABYLON  —  THE  WAILS  OP  ROY- 
ALTY—  THE  WAILS  OF  THE  MERCHANTS — THE  WAILS  OF 
OTHER  CLASSES — HEAVEN'S  GLADNESS  —  THE  SAINTS, 
APOSTLES,  AND  PROPHETS  AVENGED  —  THE  DOUBLE  HAL- 
LELUIA — THE  AMEN  —  FURTHER  ITEMS  OF  THE  JOY  — 
THE  TAKING  OF  THE  KINDOM  —  BLESSEDNESS  OF  THE 
RULE   OF  GOD. 


Rev.  18  :  9-24.  (Revised  Text.)  And  shall  wail  and  mourn  over  her 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  committed  fornication  with  her,  when  they 
see  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  standing  afar  off  through  the  fear  of  her 
torment,  saying,  Alas,  alas  (woe,  woe),  the  great  city  Babylon,  the 
mighty  city  !   because  in  one  hour  came  thy  judgment. 

And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  weep  and  mourn  over  her  because 
no  one  buyeth  their  merchandise  [or  ship' s- freight]  any  more, — mer- 
chandise of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  precious  stone,  and  of  pearl, 
and  of  fine  linen,  and  of  purple,  and  of  silk,  and  of  scarlet,  and  all 
thyne  [or  citron]  wood,  and  every  article  of  ivory,  and  every  article  of 
most  costly  wood,  and  of  brass,  and  of  iron,  and  of  marble ;  and  cin- 
namon, and  amomum,  and  odors,  and  ointment,  and  frankincense,  and 
wine,  and  oil,  and  fine  meal,  and  wheat,  and  cattle,  and  sheep ;  and 
[merchandise]  of  horses,  and  of  chariots,  and  of  bodies  and  souls  of 
men.  And  thy  harvest  of  the  soul's  desire  has  departed  from  thee,  and 
all  dainty  things  and  bright  things  have  perished  from  thee,  and  they 
shall  not  find  them  any  more.  The  merchants  of  these  things,  who 
were  made  rich  from  her,  shall  stand  afar  off  through  the  fear  of  her 
torment,  weeping  and  mourning,  saying,  Alas,  alas  (woe,  woe),  the 
great  city  which  was  clothed  in  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and 
decked  with  gold,  and  precious  stone,  and  pearl,  because  in  one  hour 
such  great  riches  hath  been  desolated. 

And  every  shipmaster,  and  every  one  who  goeth  by  sea,  and  sailors, 
and  as  many  as  trade  by  sea,  stood  afar  off  and  cried  out  when 
they  saw  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  saying,  What  is  like  to  the  great 
city  !    And  they  cast  heaped- up  earth  upon  their  heads,  and  cried  out, 

(189) 


190  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

weeping  and  mourning,  saying,  Alas,  alas  (woe,  woe),  the  great  city 
by  which  all  who  had  ships  in  the  sea  were  made  rich  from  her  costli- 
ness [or  treasures],  because  in  one  hour  she  hath  been  desolated  ! 

Rejoice  over  her,  0  heaven,  and  saints,  and  apostles,  and  prophets, 
because  God  hath  judged  your  judgment  out  of  her. 

And  one,  a  mighty  angel,  took  up  a  stone,  as  a  great  millstone,  and 
cast  [it]  into  the  sea,  saying,  Thus  with  a  bound  shall  the  great  city 
Babylon  be  cast  down,  and  shall  not  be  found  any  more.  And  the 
sound  of  harpers,  and  musicians,  and  flute-players,  and  trumpeters 
shall  not  be  heard  in  thee  any  more,  and  every  artisan  of  every  art 
shall  not  be  found  in  thee  any  more  ;  and  sound  of  the  millstone  shall 
not  be  heard  in  thee  any  more  ;  and  light  of  a  candle  shall  not  shine 
in  thee  any  more;  and  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  bride  shall  not 
be  heard  in  thee  any  more  ;  because  thy  merchants  were  the  great  men 
of  the  earth  ;    because  by  thy  sorcery  all  the  nations  were  led  astray. 

And  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets,  and  of  saints,  and  of  all 
that  have  been  slain  upon  the  earth. 

Rev.  19  :  1-6.  (Revised  Text.)  After  these  things  I  heard  as  a  great 
voice  of  much  multitude  in  the  heaven,  saying,  Alleluia,  the  salvation, 
and  the  glory,  and  the  power,  of  our  God,  because  true  and  righteous 
bis  judgments,  because  he  judged  the  great  harlot  that  corrupted  the 
earth  with  her  fornication,  and  avenged  the  blood  of  his  servants  out 
of  her  hand.  And  a  second  time  they  say,  Alleluia ;  and  her  smoke 
goeth  up  for  the  ages  of  the  ages. 

And  the  twenty-four  Elders  and  the  four  Living  Ones  fell  down  and 
worshipped  the  God,  the  sitter  upon  the  throne,  saying,  Amen,  Al- 
leluia. 

And  a  voice  came  out  from  the  throne,  saying.  Praise  our  God  all 
his  servants,  those  that  fear  him,  the  small  and  the  great. 

And  I  heard  as  a  voice  of  much  multitude,  and  as  a  voice  of  many 
waters,  and  as  a  voice  of  mighty  thunders,  saying,  Alleluia,  because 
the  Lord  God  the  All-Ruler  hath  assumed  the  kingdom. 

npHE  fall  of  Great  Babylon  is  one  of  the  most 
-■-  marvellous  events  of  time.  More  is  said 
about  it  in  the  Scriptures  than  perhaps  any  one 
great  secular  occurrence.  And  when  it  comes  to 
pass  the  whole  universe  is  thrilled  at  the  sight. 
But  the  emotions  are  not  all  of  the  same  kind. 


LECTURS    XLI.    CHAPS.    18  :  9 -24  ;  19  :  ] -6.    ^91 

Two  worlds  are  concerned,  and  in  nothing  are  they 
more  sharply  in  contrast  than  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  respectively  affected  by  the  dread- 
ful catastrophe.  Great  Babylon  does  not  mean  the 
world,  as  some  have  erroneously  supposed;  for 
there  is  still  a  world  of  unsanctified  people  left  to 
mourn  and  lament  over  her  after  she  is  no  more. 
And  great  is  the  lamentation  and  terror  which  her 
destruction  calls  forth.  Let  us  look  at  it  for  a  mo- 
ment and  see  to  what  sudden  disappointment  and 
helplessness  the  schemes  of  human  progress  and 
development  are  leading.  Just  when  the  wisdom, 
and  reforms,  and  utilitarian  philosophies  of  apos- 
tate man  have  ^vrought  themselves  out,  and  their 
glorious  fruits  are  being  realized,  the  strong  hand 
of  judgment  strikes,  and  all  is  confounded  and 
blasted  in  an  hour.  And  the  terribleness  of  the 
disaster  may  be  read  from  the  lamentation  which 
ensues. 

First  of  all  the  apostolic  Seer  hears  the  wail- 
ings  of  royalty  and  dominion.  "  The  kings  of  the 
earth  wail  and  mourn."  They  were  all  in  close 
affinity  with  Babylon.  They  had  lent  themselves 
to  her  bewitching  schemes  and  policy.  They  were 
enamoured  with  the  enriching  and  glorifjdng  power 
of  her  greatness.  They  had  given  their  influence 
and  favors  to  her,  and  consented  to  be  the  willing 
ministers  to  her  wantonness.  She  was  their  par- 
ticular love,  in  whom  was  their  chief  delight,  and 
on  whom  they  were  glad  to  lavish  their  treasures. 
And  when  she  falls,  the  main  artery  of  earth's 
glory  is  cut,  and  every  government  feels  its  life- 
voL.  III.  70 


292  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

blood  ebbing  away.  They  contemplate  the  smoke 
of  her  burning  with  horror.  They  stand  afar  off 
in  dread  of  her  torment,  alarmed  and  terrified  at 
the  consequences  of  her  ruin.  They  leaned  upon 
her  mightiness,  but  the  strong  staff  is  now  stricken 
from  their  hands.  The  mightier  power  of  judg- 
ment is  before  them,  and  they  tremble  before  its 
disastrous  strokes.  They  show  no  penitence,  but 
Alas,  alas, — woe,  looe, — is  the  note  of  outcry  from 
every  capital  when  it  is  seen  and  known  that 
Babylon  is  no  more. 

IN'ext  come  **  the  merchants  of  the  earth,"  full 
of  tears  and  grief  over  the  sudden  collapse  of 
their  enriching  trade.  It  was  promised  that  the 
wand  of  the  sorceress  would  give  prosperity  to 
nations,  and  that  as  commerce  ruled  all  people 
would  be  blest  by  its  administrations;  and  a  great 
tidal  wave  of  mercantile  thrift  and  glory  is  indi- 
cated as  having  come  over  the  world  by  this  grand 
unification.  There  never  was  so  great  a  market 
or  so  brisk  a  trade  as  that  which  grows  up  with  the 
revival  and  restoration  of  Babylon.  The  whole 
world  becomes  alive  with  trafilc  in  "  merchandise 
of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  precio.us  stone,  and 
of  pearl,  and  of  fine  linen,  and  of  purple,  and  of 
silk,  and  of  scarlet,  and  all  thyne  or  citron  wood, 
and  every  article  of  ivory,  and  every  article  of 
most  costly  wood,  and  of  brass,  and  of  iron,  and 
of  marble;  and  cinnamon,  and  amonium  [a 
precious  preparation  from  an  Asiatic  shrub],  and 
odors,  and  ointment,  and  frankincense,  and  wine, 
and  oil,  and  fine  meal,  and  wheat,  and  cattle,  and 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18  ;  9-24;  19  :  1-6.    193 

sheep ;  and  merchandise  of  horses,  and  of  chariots, 
and  of  bodies  and  souls  of  men."  Never  before 
was  there  such  a  demand  for  these  things,  and  for 
all  things  dainty  and  goodly,  as  when  the  house 
of  the  Ephah  is  built  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  and 
that  Ephah  is  settled  there  upon  its  own  base. 
"  The  merchants  of  these  things  "  the  world  over 
never  before  experienced  so  great  a  harvest,  and 
double  up  riches  on  riches  with  a  rapidity  which 
seems  like  miracle.  Everything  looks  like  secure 
and  perfect  triumph  for  earth's  wisdom  and  inven- 
tions. Bat  all  at  once  this  mighty  commerce  stops, 
and  all  its  wheels  stand  still.  The  mercantile 
circles  of  the  whole  earth  are  stricken  with  con- 
sternation. Every  counting-room  becomes  a  place 
of  mourning.  The  great  traders  all  weep  and 
mourn,  not  so  much  for  Babylon's  sufferings,  for 
man's  sympathy  for  man  shall  then  have  been 
eaten  away  by  the  common  sordidness ;  nor  yet 
for  their  great  sins,  for  the  day  of  repentance  is 
then  over  for  them.  The  centre  of  their  distress 
is  that  their  market  is  gone,  that  "  no  one  buyeth 
their  merchandise  any  more,"  that  "  in  one  hour 
such  great  riches  hath  been  desolated,"  that  the 
scorching  of  the  great  city's  torment  reaches  them 
even  at  the  remotest  distances.  Alas,  alas, — woe, 
woe, — is  the  cry  that  comes  from  all  their  ware- 
houses and  homes. 

But  there  is  a  third  and  still  larger  class  of 
mourners.  Great  firms  have  more  employes  than 
heads,  and  very  many  are  dependent  on  them  for 
occupation  and  livelihood.     Shipmasters,  and  sea- 


194  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

goers,  and  sailors,  and  as  many  as  trade  by  sea, 
with  all  their  helpers  and  crews,  also  have  their 
harvest  out  of  this  great  and  enriching  Babylonian 
traffic.  And  these  still  more  sorely  feel  the  ca- 
lamity of  its  sudden  interruption.  Therefore,  from 
them  also  comes  the  cry  of  lamentation  when  they 
behold  the  smoke  of  Babylon's  burning.  And  so 
bitter  is  the  realization  of  the  calamity  to  them, 
that  "  they  cast  heaped-up  earth  upon  their  heads 
and  cry  out,  weeping  and  mourning,  saying,  Alas, 
alas, — woe,  woe, — the  great  city  by  which  all  who 
had  ships  in  the  sea  were  made  rich  from  her 
costly  treasures !" 

Thus,  from  every  throne  on  earth,  and  from  every 
power  behind  the  throne,  from  every  seat  of  trade, 
and  every  city, — from  every  continent,  every  island, 
every  sea,  and  every  ship  that  plies  upon  the  sea, — 
comes  forth  the  voice  of  woe  and  irremediable  dis- 
aster. It  is  a  triple  voice,  each  part  of  which  is 
double.  It  is  the  evil  six  complete.  It  is  the  in- 
consolable lament  of  all  the  potencies  and  activ- 
ities of  earth,  exhibiting  another  star  in  the  crown 
of  this  world's  wisdom  and  progress. 

But  whilst  the  chorus  of  lamentation,  disap- 
pointment, and  terror  is  upon  the  earth,  a  grand 
jubilation  fills  the  sky.  As  this  world's  great  ones, 
and  rich  ones,  and  dependent  ones  cry  Woe,  woe, 
over  Great  Babylon's  fall,  all  the  peoples  on  high 
pour  out  their  mightiest  Halleluias.  No  sooner  has 
the  harlot  city  gone  down  amid  her  judgment 
fires,  than  a  voice  springs  up  spontaneous  over  all 
the  holy  universe :  "  Rejoice  over  her,  0  heaven,  and 


LECTUKE   XLI.    CHAPS.    18:9-24-   19:1 


195 


saints,  and  apostles,  and  proj^heis,  because   God  hath 
judged  your  judgment  out  of  her.'' 

For  all   the   ages   had    God's   messengers  and 
people  been  protesting,  prophesying,  and  declaim- 
ing against  these   worldly  philosophies,  systems, 
hopes,  and  spirit.     It  lies  in  the  very  nature  and 
essence  of  the  profession   of  all  saints  to    '^re- 
nounce the  Devil   and  all  his  works,  the  vanities 
of  the  world,  and  the  sinful  desires  of  the  flesh." 
ISTo  one  in  any  age  can  have  place  among  God's 
holy  ones  without  this.     As  J^oah  by  his  faith,  so 
the  children  of  God  in  all  time,  by  the  very  act  of 
becoming  God's  children,  "condemn  the  world," 
and  give  judgment  against  its  wisdom,  its  prin- 
ciples, its  spirit,  and  its  hopes.     So,  too,  all  the 
teachings  of  the  apostles,  all  the  holy  messages  of 
the  prophets,  and  all  the  sermons  of  God's  faithful 
ministers  the  world  over.  What,  indeed,  has  been 
the  great  controversy  ever  since  the  race  begun, 
but  that  between  revelation  and  the  sensual  wis- 
dom, between  the  system  of  God's  salvation  and 
that  which  men  propose  to  work  out  for  them- 
selves, between  the  bringing  up  of  the  world  on 
principles  of  human  progress  and  the  only  redemp- 
tion through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus?   And  between 
these  two  there  is  an  inherent,  irreconcilable,  and 
eternal  antagonism.  That  which  makes  and  marks 
the  saints,  the  apostles,  and  the  prophets,  is  at 
perpetual  variance  with  what  characterizes  and 
animates   all    the    rest   of  the   world,  condemns 
It,  and  ever  pronounces  and  prophesies  against 
It.     Thus    far,   however,  as   respects   this  world, 


296  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  saints,  apostles,  and  prophets  have  had  the 
worst  of  it.     Always  in  the  minority,  the  world 
at  large  has  never  listened  to  them,  never  agreed 
with  them,  never  consented  to  accept  their  sys- 
tem, never  sympathized  with  their  hopes,  never 
respected   their   profession.     They  depreciate  its 
interests   too    much.      They   are   too    severe   on 
its   principles.     They  are  in  the  way  of  its  lib- 
erties.    They  would  draw  a  cowl  over  its  joys. 
They  would  disable  its  beneficent  progress.     They 
are  pessimists,  who  shut  off  all  blessed  outcome 
from   its   philosophies   and   efforts   touching  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  race.     In  a 
word,  they  are  intolerable  to  the  world,  a  poor 
croaking  set,  fit  only  to  be  killed  off  by  the  hand 
of  power  where  they  are  too  persistent  and  loud, 
and  unfit  at  best  to  receive  respectful  attention. 
If  the  world  can  find  a  Balaam,  ready  to  compro- 
mise himself  for  gold,  to  bless  it  for  a  price,  and 
to  speak  God's  benediction  on  its  lusts  and  pas- 
sions, him  it  will  honor,  and  to  him  will  Balak's 
nobles  come;  but  for  the  Elijahs,  Isaiahs,  Jere- 
miahs, Peters,  and  Pauls,  their  fate  has  ever  been 
to  be  mocked,  scourged,  imprisoned,  stoned,  sawn 
asunder,  slain  with  the  sword,  nailed  to  the  cross, 
thrown  to  wild  beasts,  or  compelled  to  seek  asylum 
in  deserts,  mountains,  and  dens  and  caves  of  the 
earth,  being  destitute,  tormented,  afflicted,  because 
they  condemn  the  godless  world, its  Ahabs,  its  Jeze- 
bels, its  Herods,  and  its  sins.     Compared  with  the 
great  mass  of  mankind,  the  true  Church  has  always 
been  a  "  little  flock,"  toiling  with  difiiculties,  oppo- 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18:9-24;  19:1-6.    ^97 

8ition,and  hatred,  and  never  able  to  make  effective 
headway  against  the  powers  holding  sway  over  the 
race.  Now  and  then  the  course  of  history  seemed 
on  the  point  of  justifying  her  principles  and  pro- 
fession, but  then  came  internal  defections,  setting 
her  back  again,  and  almost  extinguishing  her 
being.  And  so  it  will  be  unto  the  end.  So  far  as 
this  present  world  is  concerned,  the  general  verdict 
of  mankind,  sustained  by  the  great  current  of 
human  history  for  6000  years,  is  against  the  faith 
and  testimonies  of  the  saints,  apostles,  and 
prophets  of  God.  To  the  general  population  of 
the  earth  their  profession  stands  branded  as  mere 
hallucination  and  lies.  But  at  last  their  vindica- 
tion comes.  When  the  vaunted  wisdom,  and 
progress,  and  experiments  of  unregenerate  man 
are  consummated,  and  there  is  nothing  to  show 
from  it  but  a  valley  of  burning  cinders  and  deso- 
lation, with  the  whole  earth  from  highest  kings  to 
meanest  subjects  howling  in  helpless  lamentations, 
terror,  and  despair,  history  will  have  added  its 
seal  to  all  that  saints,  apostles,  and  prophets  have 
said  and  maintained.  Then  will  their  judgment 
have  been  judged  out  of  that  world  which  de- 
spised and  persecuted  them,  and  spurned  their 
hated  pessimism  for  more  flattering  philosophies. 
Then  will  their  renunciation  of  this  world  and  its 
delusive  hopes  be  justified  by  the  ruin  of  its  most 
cherished  greatness.  Then  will  the  false  verdict 
under  which  they  have  lain  and  suffered  for  sixty 
centuries  be  reversed  in  the  living  facts,  of  which 
they  never  ceased  to  tell  and  prophesy.  Now  they 


198  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

have  sorrow,  and  can  only  weep  and  lament,  whilst 
the  world  rejoices  and  sets  them  at  naught;  but 
then  the  sorrow  and  joy  will  exchange  places,  and 
the  sorrow  of  the  one  be  turned  to  joy,  and  the 
joy  of  the  other  to  enduring  lamentation. 

It  is  in  answer  to  this  call  for  heaven,  saints, 
apostles,  and  prophets  to  rejoice,  that  the  sublime 
outbursts  described  in  this  chapter  occur.  John 
listens  and  looks,  and  sounds  fall  on  his  ears,  and 
sights  pass  before  his  eyes,  which  stir  and  affect 
him  more  deeply  than  anything  he  yet  had  seen 
or  heard  since  the  first  vision. 

First  of  all  he  hears  "  a  great  voice  of  much 
multitude  in  heaven,  saying,  Alleluia J^  Here, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  New  Testament,  we 
come  upon  one  of  the  most  admirable  words  of 
praise  ever  made  known  on  earth.  It  is  the  same 
that  occurs  so  often  in  the  most  exultant  of  the 
Hebrew  Psalms.  Anselm,  of  Canterbury,  con- 
siders it  an  angelic  word,  which  cannot  be  fully 
reproduced  in  any  language  of  man,  and  concurs 
with  Augustine  that  the  feeling  and  saying  of  it 
embodies  all  the  blessedness  of  heaven.  The 
Apocrypha  (Tobit  13 :  21)  gives  it  as  among  the 
great  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem  that  all  the 
streets  shall  say.  Alleluia,  And  this  word  John 
hears  sounding  from  the  sky. 

Loud  as  from  numbers  without  number, 
Sweet  as  from  blest  voices  uttering  joy. 

It  is  one  of  the  very  highest  acknowledgments 
and  celebrations  of  Grod.  Where  it  is  understand- 
ingly  sung  there  is  at  once  the  profoundest  adorft- 


LECTURE    XL  I.    CHAPS.    18:9-24;    19:1-6.    ^99 

tion  and  the  most  exultant  joy.  And  this  is  the 
feeling  and  experience  in  the  heaven  when  the 
proud  system  of  this  world's  apostate  wisdom  and 
glory  falls. 

We  are  not  told  precisely  from  whom  this  voice 
comes.  It  may  be  from  the  souls  under  the  altar 
who  waited  so  long  to  be  avenged.  It  may  be 
from  that  multitude  which  no  man  could  number 
who  come  out  of  the  great  tribulation.  It  may  be, 
but  not  so  likely,  from  the  host  of  holy  angels  who 
had  been  ministering  for  all  these  ages  for  what  is 
then  being  realized.  It  may  be  from  the  144,000 
remembering  the  terribleness  of  the  Antichristian 
severities  they  suflered,  whose  acclaim  is  else- 
where compared  to  mighty  thunder  (chap.  14  :  2). 
But  whoever  the  particular  parties  may  be,  it  is 
the  voice  of  a  multitudinous  company  of  people 
in  the  heaven,  and  it  is  the  voice  of  exultant  ado- 
ration, celebrating  ^'  the  salvation,  and  the  glory,  arid 
the  power  of  our  God,^'  Thus,  what  the  kings,  mer- 
chants, and  shippers  on  earth  mourn  and  lament 
as  destruction,  is  celebrated  in  heaven  as  divine 
"  salvation."  What  is  considered  nothing  but  woe 
here  is  praised  as  divine  glory  there.  And  what 
is  here  regarded  as  the  unmaking  of  all  that  earth 
called  mighty  is  sung  there  as  the  very  triumph 
of  divine  goodness.  Heaven's  estimate  of  things 
is  widely  different  from  that  entertained  by  this 
world.  The  object  of  earth's  fondest  love  and 
delight  is  the  object  of  God's  intensest  wrath. 
That  which  men  most  work  for,  and  most  fondly 
serve,  is  that  which  God  most  severely  judges. 


200  ^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

And  that  which  the  great  ones  most  deplore  is  the 
very  thing  which  evokes  the  sublimest  heavenly 
Halleluias. 

The  destruction  of  Great  Babylon  is  an  illus- 
trious exhibition  of  the  truth  and  righteousness 
of  the  divine  administrations.  Often  it  would 
seem  as  if  God  had  forgotten  his  word,  or  quite 
abandoned  the  earth,  so  great  is  the  prosperity  of 
the  wicked,  the  triumph  of  injustice,  the  wrongs 
and  afflictions  which  those  who  most  honor  him 
suffer.  But  it  is  not  so.  He  is  true.  His  ways 
are  just.  Everything  will  come  out  fully  equal- 
ized at  the  last.  And  here  is  a  signal  demonstra- 
tion of  the  fact.  The  godless  wisdom  and  pride 
of  men  are  left  to  work  themselves  out  to  the  full, 
but  when  the  harvest  is  ripe  the  sweep  of  the  sharp 
sickle  of  judgment  comes  against  it  and  it  suddenly 
falls,  and  all  its  just  deservings  it  gets.  The  harlot 
has  her  day;  but  then  comes  her  night,  with  never 
a  star  of  hope  to  rise  upon  her  any  more.  She  is 
permitted  to  lure,  delude,  and  debauch  the  world, 
because  men  preferred  her  abominations  to  the 
truth  and  kingdom  of  God;  but  only  that  her 
judgment  may  be  the  more  conspicuous,  and  her 
destruction  the  more  signal  and  complete.  And 
the  Halleluia  of  eternity  is  all  the  louder  and  more 
intense  because  her  judgment  comes  as  it  does. 
Ah,  yes,  God's  ways  are  right;  his  judgments  are 
true  and  righteous.  Perplexing  and  trying  as  they 
may  be  for  the  time,  our  Halleluias  will  be  all  the 
deeper  and  the  sweeter  by  reason  of  what  we  may 
now  deplore.     Nay,  they  will  be  double  then,  by 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18  ;  9-24;   19;l-6.    £01 

reason  of  the  darkness  now;  for  ''a  second  time 
they  say,  Alleluia." 

And  what  the  unnamed  heavenly  multitude  so 
exultantly  express,  the  twenty-four  Elders  and  the 
four  Living  Ones  equally  feel  and  indorse.  They 
even  prostrate  themselves  in  profoundest  adora- 
tion, and  "  worship  the  God,  the  sitter  upon  the 
throne,  saying,  Amen,  Alleluia." 

And  here  we  meet  with  another  of  those  pecu- 
liarly sacred  and  expressive  words,  reasonably  sup- 
posed to  have  had  their  origin  in  heaven.  From  our 
first  meeting  with  it  in  the  Scriptures  (J^umb.  5: 
22)  to  the  concluding  word  of  this  Book,  we  find 
it  used  as  the  special  word  of  holy  acquiescence 
and  sacred  ratification.  It  was  constantly  on  the 
lips  of  the  Saviour  in  his  most  solemn  enuncia- 
tions. It  is  the  sealing  word  to  all  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles.  It  is  not  an  oath,  yet  it  has  much 
of  the  solemnity  and  force  of  an  oath.  It  contains 
no  adjuration  or  appeal,  yet  it  authenticates,  con- 
firms, binds,  seals,  and  pledges  to  the  truth  of  that 
to  which  it  is  affixed.  It  is  not  an  imprecation 
upon  him  who  utters  it,  but  it  is  a  tying  up  and 
giving  over  of  his  whole  being  and  life  to  what  he 
thus  acknowledges  and  confirms.  When  placed 
at  the  end  of  an  utterance  or  act  of  devotion,  as 
placed  by  the  Saviour  at  the  end  of  the  prayer  he 
propounded  as  our  model  and  form,  it  has  the 
office  of  an  underwriting  or  subscription,  carry- 
ing the  hearty  consent  and  confidence  of  the  wor- 
shipper with  what  has  gone  before.  It  is  the  word 
of  fervency  and  soul-earnestness  by  which  every 


202  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

utterance  is  grasped  up  again,  and  renewedlj  laid 
before  God,  as  the  full  and  ardent  desire  of  our 
hearts,  and  as  that  which  our  souls  most  feel  and 
most  sacredly  rest  in.  And  so  it  is  in  the  case  now 
before  us.  The  Elders  and  the  Living  Ones 
hear  the  triumphant  celebration  of  the  salvation, 
and  the  glory,  and  the  power  of  our  God,  as 
sounded  forth  in  the  great  voice  of  the  much  mul- 
titude, and  feel  the  convictions  and  emotions  of 
their  own  souls  so  completely  expressed  that  they 
adoringly  bow  down  and  sacredly  make  it  their 
own.  All  heaven  is  of  one  mind  and  of  one  soul. 
Therefore  the  self-prostrated  Elders  and  Living 
Ones  answer  the  Halleluias  of  the  unnamed  host 
with  a  third  Ualleluia,  prefaced  with  the  Amen^ 
which  makes  the  other  two  theirs  also. 

But  this  triple  utterance  of  exultant  praise  and 
celebration  of  the  salvation,  glory,  and  power  of 
our  God,  is  still  further  urged  on  by  a  voice  that 
comes  out  from  the  throne  itself,  saying,  '' Praise 
our  God,  all  his  servants,  those  that  fear  him,  the  small 
and  the  greats 

We  are  not  told  whose  voice  this  is.  Some  take 
it  as  the  voice  of  Christ,  who  is  elsewhere  said  to 
be  "in  the  midst  of  the  throne."  (7: 17.)  If  it  is 
his  voice,  he  thus  recognizes  the  Father  as  his 
God,  as  he  did  in  the  days  of  his  earthly  life,  and 
at  the  same  time  owns  all  the  glorified  as  his 
associates.  But  whether  it  is  Christ's  voice  or  not, 
it  is  the  voice  of  the  throne,  a  voice  having  author- 
ity to  command  and  lead  off  in  further  exultation 
for  the  marvellous  things  then  being  accomplished. 


LECTURE    XL  I.    CHAPS.    18:9-24;  19:1-6,    203 

I^or  is  it  unlikely  that  the  Saviour  himself  leads 
in  the  praise  enjoined.  So  the  promise  runs  in 
Psalm  xxii:  "I  will  declare  thy  name  unto  my 
brethren;  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  will  I 
praise  thee.  Ye  that  fear  the  Lord,  praise  him.  My 
praise  shall  be  of  thee  in  the  great  congregation ; 
/  will  'pay  my  vows  before  them  that  fear  him..^' 

The  subject  of  the  praise  here  called  for  seems 
to  look  two  ways,  embracing  the  judgment  just 
executed,  and  new  glories  about  to  be  realized,  of 
which  that  judgment  is  the  pledge  and  inaugura- 
tion. The  voice  which  gave  the  first  and  second 
Halleluias  was  the  voice  of  a  vast  heavenly  multi- 
tude. The  Amen  and  third  Halleluia  were  from 
the  Elders  and  the  Living  Ones.  These  all  centre 
in  the  display  of  divine  truth,  justice,  and  almighti- 
ness  in  the  judgment  of  Great  Babylon,  and  the 
avenging  of  the  blood  of  the  saints  out  of  her 
hand.  If  there  be  any  other  servants  and  fearers 
of  God,  great  or  small,  they  are  also  called  to  join 
in  the  exulting  praises  for  the  same.  But  as  re- 
sponse comes  to  this  admonition  from  the  throne, 
the  songs  take  in  other  subjects,  and  seem  to  em- 
brace all  that  is  described  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
chapter.  The  Halleluia  which  now  comes  with  re- 
doubled power  and  majesty  celebrates  the  assump- 
tion of  the  kingdom  by  the  Lord  God,  which  would 
seem  to  imply  that  the  victory  in  the  battle  of  the 
great  day  is  included.  The  marriage  of  the  Lamb, 
the  readiness  and  array  of  the  Bride,  and  the  bless- 
edness of  those  who  are  called  to  the  marriage  ban- 
quet are  likewise  recounted,  which  can  hardly  be 


2Q4  ^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

taken  as  coincident  with  the  fall  of  Babylon.  A 
point  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  indicated  in 
this  call,  from  which  the  contemplation  is  both 
backward  to  Babylon's  overthrow  and  forward  to 
the  fall  of  the  Beast,  and  the  contemplation  of  the 
Church's  blessedness  in  her  Lord ;  the  main  stress 
gravitating  now  toward  what  follows  the  judgment 
on  Babylon. 

No  sooner  does  the  voice  from  the  throne  give 
command  for  praise  than  John  "  heard  as  a  voice 
of  much  multitude,  and  as  a  voice  of  many  waters, 
and  as  a  voice  of  mighty  thunders,  saying.  Alleluia, 
because  the  Lord  God  the  All- Ruler  hath  assumed  the 
kingdom.'^  This  is  a  mightier  Halleluia  than  either 
of  the  preceding.  It  refers  also  to  an  ampler  sub- 
ject. The  judgment  of  Great  Babylon  demon- 
strated, indeed,  that  God  is  mighty,  and  that  he  is 
the  All-Ruler.  It  also  showed  a  potent  taking  up 
and  enforcement  of  his  sovereign  and  righteous 
authority.  But  what  was  thus  shown  in  one  aspect 
and  relation  is  at  once  followed  out  to  a  much 
wider  and  more  direct  assumption  of  active  rule 
and  sovereignty.  When  the  seventh  trumpet  was 
sounded  a  great  voice  anticipatively  exclaimed  : 
"  The  kingdom  of  the  world  [not  kingdoms,  as  some 
versions  and  unsupported  copies  read,  but  i]  ^affdsia 
TOO  xofffjMu,  as  all  the  great  manuscripts  have  it, 
rendered  by  Wickliffe,  the  Eheims  version,  the 
old  Yulgate,  and  the  still  older  Syriac,  the  kingdom, 
of  the  ivorld],  is  become  our  Lord^s  and  his  ChrisfsJ' 
The  kingdom  of  the  world  means  the  political 
sovereignty  of  the  world,  the  rulership  of  the 
world,  the  kingly  dominion  or  government  of  the 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18:9-24;   19;  1-6.        206 

world,  the  same  which  is  now  exercised  by  the  po- 
tentates and  authorities  of  the  earth.  And  this 
kingdom  of  the  world,  this  sovereignty,  this  rule, 
this  power  of  making  and  enforcing  the  laws  reg- 
ulating human  society,  the  great  voice  said  was 
then  about  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord.  It 
does  not  mean  the  leavening  of  existiug  govern- 
ments with  Christian  principles,  the  spiritual  con- 
version of  countries  and  empires,  leaving  them  in 
existence,  and  simply  Christianizing  them  so  as  to 
exhibit  something  of  Christ's  spirit  in  their  admin- 
istrations; but  the  total  displacement  of  all  this 
world's  sovereigns  and  governments,  the  taking 
of  all  dominion  and  authority  out  of  their  hands, 
and  the  putting  of  it  in  the  hands  of  Christ,  as  the 
true  and  only  King  of  the  world.  And  the  actual 
assumption  of  this  rulership  of  the  earth  in  the 
place  and  stead  of  existing  governments  and  lord- 
ships is  what  the  song  of  praise  to  God  here  so 
mightily  celebrates.  "As  a  voice  of  much  multi- 
tude, as  a  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as  a  voice  of 
mighty  thunders,"  comes  forth  the  grand  ^'Alle- 
luia,  because  the  Lord  God,  the  All-Ruler,  hath  assumed 
the  kingdom;''  that  is,  has  himself  entered  upon 
the  actual  administration  of  the  sovereignty  and 
government  of  the  world. 

The  fall  of  Great  Babylon  heralds  and  begins 
the  political  regeneration  of  the  earth. 

And  well  may  the  tide  of  holy  exultation  swell  to 
its  sublimest  height  over  such  an  actuality.  What 
is  the  crown  and  consummation  of  that  prayer 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  put  upon  the  lips  and  into 


206  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  hearts  of  all  his  followers  when  he  said,  pray, 
"  7%  kingdom  comeP^  Does  it  mean  no  more  than 
that  our  own  hearts  may  be  thoroughly  subdued 
to  our  Maker,  purged  of  idolatry  and  lust,  puri- 
fied by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  tilled  with  all  pure- 
ness,  heavenly  knowledge,  devotion,  obedience, 
and  grace?  That  might  be,  and  yet  the  earth  be 
crushed  with  misrule,  tyranny,  corruption,  and 
oppression.  Does  it  mean  simply  that  the  Church 
may  be  ever  dear  and  faithful  to  God,  its  ministers 
multiplied,  its  membership  increased,  its  Scrip- 
tures distributed,  its  faith  kept  pure,  its  sacraments 
observed,  its  defections  healed,  its  weaknesses  re- 
moved, its  success  augmented,  and  all  its  members 
blessed  with  all  spiritual  riches  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 
That  might  all  be  and  the  world  still  be  to  her  a 
valley  of  Baca,  a  Bochim,  a  wilderness  of  sorrow 
and  hardship.  Does  it  mean  only  the  removal  of 
what  hinders  the  preaching  and  belief  of  the 
Gospel,  or  the  progress  of  faith  and  piety  in  the 
individual  and  in  the  world  ?  That  might  also  be 
and  still  God's  kingdom  be  no  nearer  than  it  is  at 
present.  When  Isaiah  prophesied  of  Christ,  he 
said:  "  The  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder; 
of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there 
shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  upon 
his  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it  with 
judgment  and  justice."  (Is.  9:6,7.)  When  the 
Holy  Ghost  explained  the  meaning  of  the  all- 
crushing  stone  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  which 
broke  to  atoms  the  whole  statue  of  worldly  power 
and  dominion,  took  its  place,  and  tilled  the  whole 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18  :  9-24;   19  ;  1-6. 


207 


earth,  the  word  was,  This  is  the  kingdom  which 
the  God  of  heaven  shall  set  up,  which  shall  break 
in  pieces  and  consume  all  other  kingdoms,  and  it 
shall  stand  forever.  (Dan.3  :  32-45.)  When  Daniel 
was  beholding  till  "  the  judgment  was  set  and  the 
books  opened,"  he  saw  in  the  night  visions,  like  to 
the  Son  of  Man,  brought  bsfore  the  Ancient  of 
days,  "and  there  was  given  him  dominion,  and 
glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  ppople,  nations,  and 
languages  should  serve  him,"  even  "the  kingdom, 
and  dominion,  ayid  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under 
the  whole  heaven;'  "  an  everlasting  kingdom:'  (Dan.  7.) 
When  Gabriel  announced  to  Mary  the  child  to  be 
born  of  her,  he  said:    "He  shall  be  great,  and 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest,  and  the 
Lord  shall  give  unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father 
David,  and  he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob 
forever,  and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end." 
(Luke  1 :  26-33.)     When  he  himself  was  among 
men,  because  some  "  thought  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  should  immediately  appear,"  he  spake  a 
parable,  and  said  that  the  matter  is  as  a  nobleman 
going  "  into  a  far  country  to  receive  fur  himself  a 
kingdom,  and  to  return,"  meanwhile  intrusting  to 
his  servants  certain  possessions  with  which  to  trade 
and  occupy  till  he  should  come.  (Luke  19  :  11-13.) 
And  so  again  he  said :  "  When  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory  " 
(Matt.  25  :  31.)     All  these  and  many  like  passages 
treat  of  that  very  kingdom,  for  the  coming   of 
which  all  are  commanded  to  pray.     JSTor  can  they 
VOL.  m.  71 


208  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

be  explained  according  to  their  plain  and  pointed 
terms  without  taking  in  the  coming  again  of 
Christ  to  reckon  with  his  servants,  to  take  the  rule 
out  of  the  hands  of  those  who  have  usurped  do- 
minion over  the  earth,  to  dethrone  Satan  and  all 
his  agents,  and  to  reign  from  sea  to  sea,  the  only 
rightful  King  of  the  world.  And  thus,  when  Great 
Babylon  falls,  it  will  be  God's  kingdom  come,  as 
it  never  yet  has  come,  and  the  burden  of  the  prayer 
of  all  these  weary  ages  answered. 

This  assumption  of  the  rule  of  the  world  will 
likewise  bring  with  it  the  great  desideratum  of 
the  race.  When  Adam  was  in  Eden  God  was 
king.  In  the  days  of  Israel's  greatest  triumph  it 
was  the  same.  And  until  the  original  Theocracy 
is  restored,  and  the  powers  of  heaven  again  take 
the  rulership  and  control  of  the  nations,  there  is 
no  peace,  no  right  order  for  man.  There  is  no 
earthly  blessing  like  that  of  good,  wise,  and 
righteous  government:  but  there  is  no  such  gov- 
ernment outside  of  the  government  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  Some  are  better  than  others,  but 
none  are  satisfactory.  Men  have  experimented 
with  power  for  6000  years,  and  yet  there  is  no  de- 
partment in  which  there  is  more  disability,  cor- 
ruption, and  unsatisfactoriness  than  in  the  admin- 
istrations of  government.  There  is  nothing  of 
which  all  people  so  much  complain,  or  have  so 
much  cause  to  complain,  as  of  the  manner  in 
which  their  political  affairs  are  managed  and  ad- 
ministered. Those  who  live  on  government  pa- 
tronage and  plunder  are  enthusiastic  enough  in 


LECTURE    XL  I.    CHAPS.    18:9-24,19:1-6.        209 

behalf  of  what  they  call  their  country,  and  con- 
sider it  piety  to  eulogize  the  instrument  which 
pampers  their  greed  and  passions;  but  the  help- 
less multitude  is  left  to  sigh  and  cry  in  vain  over 
the  abominations  that  are  done.  The  best  gov- 
ernments man  has  ever  tried  have  invariably  disap- 
pointed their  founders,  and  proven  themselves  too 
weak  or  too  strong,  too  concentrated  or  too  dis- 
severed, and  in  one  way  or  another  have  turned 
into  instruments  of  injustice,  ambition,  selfishness, 
and  afliiction.  The  demonstration  of  the  ages  is, 
that  "  that  which  is  crooked  cannot  be  made 
straight,  and  that  which  is  wanting  cannot  be  num- 
bered/' So  true  is  this  that  one  has  said,  with  a 
pathos  that  shows  how  deep  the  conviction  was, 
"  I  know  no  safe  depositary  of  power  among  mor- 
tal men  for  the  purposes  of  government.  Tyranny 
and  oppression,  in  Church  and  State,  under  every 
form  of  government, — social,  civil,  ecclesiastical, 
monarchical,  aristocratical,  or  democratic, — have, 
sooner  or  later,  characterized  the  governments  of 
the  earth,  and  have  done  so  from  the  beginning." 
Bad  government  is  doubtless  better  than  no  gov- 
ernment. In  the  nature  of  things  we  must  have 
government  of  some  sort.  Because  of  the  worse 
ills  of  anarchy  we  take  the  lesser  afflictions  of  gov- 
ernment in  such  forms  as  we  can  get  it.  But  what 
right-thinking  and  right-feeling  man  is  not  out- 
laged  every  day  at  the  injustice,  maladministration, 
perversion,  and  abominations  that  go  along  with 
every  government  of  man  ?  So  it  ever  has  been, 
and  so  it  ever  will  be  while  **  man's  day"  lasts 


210  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

"  The  kingdom  is  the  Lord's,"  and  till  he  comes 
and  assumes  it  there  will  be  disappointment,  mis- 
rule, revolution,  and  incurable  trouble  in  all  human 
calculations  and  affairs.  Nothing  but  the  sway 
and  reign  of  heaven  can  redeem  this  fallen  world 
out  of  the  pestilential  morasses  of  its  incompetent 
and  oppressive  governments.  But  there  is  an  All- 
Ruler  who  will  yet  assume  the  kingdom,  and  give 
the  race  the  reign  of  blessedness.  *'  He  shall  come 
down  like  rain  upon  the  mown  grass,  as  showers 
that  water  the  earth.  In  his  days  shall  the 
righteous  flourish,  and  abundance  of  peace  so  long 
as  the  moon  endureth.  He  shall  have  dominion  also 
from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  They  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness 
shall  bow  before  him,  and  his  enemies  shall  lick 
the  dust.  All  kings  shall  fall  down  before  him; 
all  nations  shall  serve  him.  For  he  shall  deliver 
the  needy  when  he  crieth,  the  poor  also,  and  him 
that  hath  no  helper.  He  shall  redeem  their  soul 
from  deceit  and  violence,  and  precious  shall  their 
blood  be  in  his  sight.  He  shall  live,  and  to  him 
shall  be  given  of  the  gold  of  Sheba;  prayer  also 
shall  be  made  for  him  continually,  and  daily  shall 
he  be  praised.  His  name  shall  endure  forever, 
and  men  shall  be  blessed  in  him.  All  nations  shall 
call  him  blessed." 

Thus  flowed  the  glorious  numbers  from  David's 
prophetic  harp,  telling  of  the  All-Ruler's  assump- 
tion of  the  kingdom,  and  exulting  in  it,  until  the 
royal  singer's  soul  fired  up  into  the  very  Alleluia 


LECTURE    XLI.    CHAPS.    18:19-24:   19:1 


211 


of  the  text,  crying,  ''Blessed  be  his  glorious  name 
forever!  and  lei  the  whole  earth  be  filled  loith  his 
glory.  Anwi,  and  Amen.''  Human  utterance 
could  go  no  higher.  The  mountain  summit  of 
the  promised  blessedness  was  reached.  And 
there  the  prayers  of  David,  the  son  of  Jesse, 
ended.  (Ps.  72.J 

We  thus  begin  to  see  something  of  the  dawn 
and  character  of  those  better  times  to  come  when 
once  the  mystery  of  God  is  finished.  Tyrants, 
despots,  and  faithless  and  burdensome  govern- 
ments shall  then  be  no  more.  Like  wild  beasts,  full 
of  savage  instinct  for  blood  and  oppression,  have 
the  world-powers  roamed  and  ravaged  the  earth, 
treading  down  the  nations,  their  will  tlie  only  law, 
the  good  and  happiness  of  men  the  furthest  from 
their  hearts.  But  it  will  be  otherwise  then.  ''  The 
Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth,"  and  therein 
is  the  signal  and  pledge  of  the  dominion  of  right 
and  everlasting  peace.  Wars  shall  be  no  more. 
Injustice  and  unequal  laws  shall  be  done  away. 
Enemies  will  be  powerless.  Men  will  then  have 
their  standing  according  to  their  moral  worth. 
The  salvation  of  God  will  be  nigh  to  them  that 
fear  him.  Truth  shall  spring  out  of  the  earth, 
and  righteousness  shall  look  down  from  hea- 
ven. And  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. 
Therefore  the  voice  of  eternal  right  is,  ''Praise 
pur  God,  all  his  servants,  those  that  fear  him,  the 
small  and  the  great,''  and  from  all  the  holy  uni- 
verse comes  the  song,  in  volume  like  the  sea,  in 


212  THE   APOCALYPSE. 

Strength  like  the  thuuder,  *' Alleluia,  because 
THE  Lord  God  the  All-Ruler  hath  assumed  the 

KINGDOM.'' 


LECTURE  FORTY-SECOND. 

THE  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  LAMB  —  THE  BRIDEGROOM — THE  BRIDE 
— SEVERAL  CLASSES  OF  THE  SAVED — THE  BRIDE'S  MAKING 
OF  HERSELF  READY — THE  MARRIAGE — CURIOUS  OPINIONS 
OF  INTERPRETERS  —  THE  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  NEW 
JERUSALEM— THE  MARRIAGE  SUPPER— THE  GUESTS — THE 
CERTAINTY  OF  THESE  THINGS. 


Rev.  19:7-10.  (Revised  Text.)  Let  us  rejoice  and  exult,  and  we 
will  give  the  glory  to  him,  because  is  come  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb, 
and  his  wife  [the  Woman]  prepared  herself.  And'it  was  given  to  her 
that  she  should  clothe  herself  in  fine  linen,  bright  pure  ;  for  the  fine 
linen  is  the  righteousnesses  of  the  saints. 

And  he  saith  to  me,  Write,  Blessed  they  who  have  been  called  to  the 
supper  of  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb.  And  he  saith  to  me.  These  are 
the  true  words  of  God. 

And  I  fell  down  before  his  feet  to  worship  him.  And  he  said.  Take 
heed,  no  ;  I  am  a  fellow-servant  of  thee  and  of  thy  brethren  that  have 
the  witness  of  Jesus;  worship  God;  for  the  witness  of  Jesus  is  the 
spirit  of  the  prophecy.  , 

HHHE  fall  of  Great  Babylon  lifts  a  heavy  load 
-■-  from  the  hearts  of  all  the  holy  universe.  The 
day  and  reign  of  apostate  man  then  reach  their 
final  close.  The  hopes  and  prayers  of  faith,  and 
all  the  gracious  prophecies  and  promises  of  God, 
then  come  to  the  goal  of  their  fulfilment.  Earth's 
true,  invincible,  and  eternal  king  then  takes  the 
sovereignty,  never  again  to  pass  it  into  other  hands. 
The  heavenly  worlds  understand  it,  and  pour  forth 

(  213  ) 


214  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

their  mightiest  exultations.  And  thick  and  throng- 
ing are  the  subjects  of  joy  which  now  crowd  upon 
their  enraptured  attention.  Among  the  rest  is  one 
singled  out  with  special  interest  and  delight. 
Whilst  the  song  of  Halleluia  swells  to  the  dimen- 
sions of  mighty  thunders,  because  the  Lord  God 
the  All-Ruler  hath  assumed  the  kingdom,  a  call 
goes  forth,  ''Let  us  rejoice  and  exult,  and  we  will 
give  the  glory  to  him,  because  is  come  The  Marriage 
of  the  Lamb.**  The  Harlot  swept  away,  the  faith- 
ful Woman  comes  to  her  rightful  honors.  The 
betrothed,  so  long  waiting  amid  privation,  perse- 
cution, and  contempt,  now  becomes  a  Bride.  The 
time  of  her  marriage  has  at  length  arrived,  and 
the  grand  nuptial  banquet  begins.  And  that  mar- 
riage and  that  banquet  are  what  we  are  now  to 
consider.  God  help  us  to  understand  it,  and  to  re- 
joice ourselves  in  the  contemplation  ! 

Expositors  generally  have  taken  it  for  granted 
that  this  marriage  is  so  familiar  to  the  readers  of 
holy  Scripture,  and  so  well  understood,  as  to  need 
no  explanation.  Perhaps  had  they  attempted  to 
set  forth  in  definite  form  what  they  pass  as  so  plain, 
they  would  have  found  the  task  less  easy  than  they 
thought.  Though  the  subject  is  common  to  both 
Testaments,  there  is  not  another  of  equal  prom- 
inence and  worth  upon  which  so  little  direct  atten- 
tion has  been  bestowed  by  modern  divines,  or  upon 
which  clear  ideas  are  so  scarce.  In  my  study  of 
it,  question  after  question  has  come  up,  even  with 
regard  to  some  of  the  most  essential  points,  which 
I  find  it  very  hard  to  answer  satisfactorily.     And 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.  215 

if  others  have  found  it  so  plain  and  easy  as  to 
render  the  explanation  of  it  a  work  of  supereroga- 
tion, they  would  have  relieved  me  much,  as  well 
as  an  almost  total  blank  in  our  theologies  with 
regard  to  one  of  the  most  frequently  recurring 
subjects  of  Holy  Writ,  if  they  had  condescended  to 
record  the  results  of  their  examinations.  As  it  is, 
we  must  examine  for  ourselves. 

I.  Who  is  the  Bridegroom  f  On  this  point,  for- 
tunately, there  is  not  much  room  for  misunder- 
standing. It  is  "  The  Lamb,"  the  blessed  Saviour, 
who  gave  himself  to  death  as  a  sacrifice  for  our 
sins,  and  is  alive  and  living  forever.  It  is  the  ever- 
lasting Son  of  the  Father  made  incarnate  for  our 
salvation,  and  in  his  twofold  nature  exalted,  glori- 
fied, and  enthroned  in  eternal  majesty.  And  yet 
it  may  be  a  question  whether,  in  his  character  and 
marriage  as  The  Lamb,  everything  is  to  be  under- 
stood to  which  the  Scriptures  refer  under  the  figure 
of  man's  marriage  to  God;  whether  there  is  not 
some  particular  and  special  intimacy  or  relation- 
ship meant  to  be  set  forth  in  this  case ;  whether  it 
respects  the  Jewish  people  only,  or  Christian  peo- 
ple only,  or  all  saints  alike.  The  Old  Testament 
Church  is  everywhere  represented  as  betrothed  to 
God  as  a  candidate  for  a  glorious  union  with  him 
in  due  time.  (Isa.  14  :  1-8 ;  Ezek.  16  :  7  seq.;  Hos. 
2  :  19  seq.)  It  is  the  same  with  regard  to  the  New 
Testament  Church.  Christ  represents  himself  as 
the  Bridegroom.  (Matt.  9  :  15.)  He  speaks  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  being  '*  like  unto  a  certain 
king  which  made  a  marriage  for  his  son,"  and 


21Q  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

those  called  by  the  Gospel  as  "  bidden  to  the  mar- 
riage." (Matt.  22  :  1-13.)  He  speaks  often  of  the 
judgment  time  as  the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom 
for  his  Bride.  (Matt.  25  :  1-10.)  John  the  Baptist 
spoke  of  Christ  as  the  Bridegroom,  and  of  him- 
self as  "  the  friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  which 
standeth  and  heareth  him,  and  rejoiceth  greatly 
because  of  the  Bridegroom's  voice."  (Jno.  3  :  29.) 
Paul  speaks  of  those  whom  he  begat  in  the  Gospel 
as  espoused  to  one  husband,  whom  he  desired  to 
present  as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ.  (2  Cor.  11 :  2.) 
Earthly  marriage  is  likewise  spoken  of  as  a  mys- 
tery, significant  of  Christ's  relation  to  his  Church. 
(Eph.  5  :  23-32.)  All  this  proves,  as  clearly  as  ma^^ 
be,  that  in  the  economy  of  grace  and  redemption 
our  blessed  Saviour  takes  the  character  and  rela- 
tion of  a  Bridegroom  or  Husband  to  his  people,  of 
one  class  or  another,  and  that  a  great  and  blessed 
union  between  himself  and  them  remains  to  be 
celebrated.  Whether  the  marriage  in  each  case  is 
precisely  one  and  the  same  thing,  or  respects  the 
same  identical  parties,  it  is  equally  certain  that  it 
is  The  Lamb, — the  glorified  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — 
who  is  here  contemplated  as  the  Bridegroom  and 
Husband. 

n.  Who  is  the  Bride?  Upon  first  blush  the 
answer  would  be,  the  Lord's  true  and  faithful  peo- 
ple, all  who  by  faith  and  obedience  were  affianced 
to  him,  and  continued  faithful  to  the  end.  In  a 
general  way  this  answer  may  be  accepted  as  the 
truth,  but  in  a  narrower  and  closer  view  of  things 
it  cannot  be  taken  as  strictly  and  absolutely  correct. 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.     19.7-10.  217 

The  45th  Psalm  unmistakably  refers  to  this 
subject.  The  qualities  and  doings  of  the  King, 
come  forth  from  the  ivory  palaces,  are  there  de- 
scribed with  great  vigor  and  animation.  But 
there  is  also  the  Queen,  the  King's  Bride,  standing 
on  his  right  hand,  in  gold  of  Ophir,  and  all  glori- 
ous within.  It  is  said  of  her  that  "  she  shall  be 
brought  unto  the  King  in  raiment  of  needle-work." 
But,  besides  the  Queen,  the  King^s  Bride,  there  is 
another  blessed  company,  who  are  also  to  enter 
with  rejoicing  into  the  King's  palace,  and  to  share 
the  light  of  his  countenance.  They  are  called  "the 
virgins,"  the  "  companions,"  associates,  and  bosom 
friends  of  the  Queen,  but  plainly  distinct  from  the 
Queen  herself.  They  do  not  go  with  her  when 
she  is  taken,  but  "  follow  her," — come  after  her, — 
and  are  "  brought  unto  the  King"  at  a  subsequent 
time,  and  in  quite  another  capacity  from  that  of 
the  Queen  and  Bride.  All  of  them  belong  to  the 
general  congregation  of  the  saved.  All  of  them 
are  made  forever  happy  in  their  Lord,  the  King. 
But  the  Queen  is  one  class,  and  "  the  virgins  her 
companions  that  follow  her,"  are  another  class. 

So,  too,  in  the  Song  of  Solomon  (6  :  8-9),  we 
read  of  queens,  concubines,  and  virgins,  whom  the 
fathers,  for  the  most  part,  understood  as  referring 
to  the  various  classes  which  make  up  the  Church 
as  a  whole.  Theodoret,  and  some  others,  have 
held  that  these  are  not  to  be  taken  as  representino^ 
the  true  people  of  God;  but  why  then  are  they 
called  by  names  so  descriptive  of  the  King's  most 
intimate  associates  and  household  ?    Or  how  could 


218  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

they  have  that  devout  and  admiring  sympathy  with 
the  Bride,  blessing  and  praising  her  as  they  do, 
if  not  of  the  same  general  fellowship  with  her? 
Some  narrow  Churchmen  see  here  the  various  sects 
which  stand  opposed  to  what  they  consider  the 
Church ;  but  opposition  and  secession  are  not  sig- 
nificant of  admiration  and  blessing,  and  if  these 
queens,  etc.,  be  of  the  household  of  faith  in  any 
sense,  their  relation  to  the  King,  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  terms,  must  be  true  and  real.  The 
oldest  Christian  interpretation,  and  that  which 
is  best  sustained,  sees  in  them  none  but  genuine 
believers,  but  of  diflerent  degrees  of  honor  and 
nearness  to  their  Lord;  in  which  case,  again,  not 
all  have  the  Bride's  place. 

So  the  parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins  tells  of  a 
coming  Bridegroom,  and  of  friends  of  the  Bride 
going  out,  as  in  ancient  custom,  to  meet  and  wel- 
come him,  and  to  go  in  with  him  to  the  marriage ; 
but  where  is  the  Bride  ?  Both  the  connection  and 
the  terms  of  this  parable  imply  that  she  is  then 
already  within  the  Father's  house,  there  awaiting 
the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom,  whilst  these  her 
friends  go  out  to  meet  him, — not  in  hope  of  be- 
coming his  Bride,  but  of  having  the  blessedness 
of  going  in  with  him  to  the  marriage.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  distinctly  stated,  the  day  of  the  Lord 
has  already  commenced  when  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  assumes  the  precise  shape  here  indicated. 
In  the  verses  preceding,  the  Saviour  spoke  of  the 
gathering  of  certain  eagle  saints  to  that  body  on 
which  they  live,  of  the  mysterious  taking  of  some, 
while  others  are  left,  and  of  the  sadness  of  being 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:  7-10.  219 

cut  off  from  the  high  privileges  and  honors  of  that 
first  class;  and  it  is  ''' ihen,'^  he  says,  only  iheti, 
that  matters  take  the  shape  described  in  the  para- 
ble. Those  who  are  '^  to^'e?i "  before  "  then  ^'  are 
people  of  pre-eminent  saintship  and  watchful  pre- 
paredness. (Comp.  Luke  17  :  33-37;  21  :  34-36.) 
They  correspond  to  the  Bride,  whilst  the  wise 
virgins  come  after,  not  being  ready  when  the  Bride 
was  taken,  ^ay,  it  is  the  removal  of  these  waiting 
and  ready  ones  which  awakens  the  intense  advent- 
ism  of  those  that  are  "  left,"  and  serves  as  the  means 
of  bringing  at  least  half  of  them  in  as  guests  and 
witnesses  of  the  marriage.  The  "left"  know  now 
that  Christ  is  presently  to  come  as  the  Bridegroom, 
on  his  way  to  join  his  Bride.  To  be  ready  for  that 
Bridegroom  coming,  that  they  may  go  in  with  him 
to  the  marriage,  is  now  the  one  great  thought.  In 
all  ordinary  custom — to  which  the  allusion  is — the 
going  in  would  be  the  going  into  the  Father's 
house  where  the  Bride  already  is,  arrayed  and 
ready  for  her  coming  Lord. 

To  say  nothing,  then,  of  the  place  and  fate  of 
the  five  unwise  virgins,  this  parable,  taken  in  its 
connections,  inevitably  implies  that  not  all  of  those 
who  finally  get  to  heaven  are  of  that  class  which 
actually  constitutes  the  Bride  of  Christ,  however 
related  to  that  Bride. 

It  is  also  the  common  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures 
that  there  are  great  diversities  in  the  portions 
awarded  to  the  saints.  There  are  some  orreatest 
and  some  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  There 
are  some  who  shall  be  first  and  some  who  shall  be 


220  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

last.  There  are  some  who  get  crowns,  and  there 
are  some  who  get  none.  There  are  some  who  are 
assigned  dominion  over  ten  cities,  some  over  five, 
and  some  who  lose  all  reward,  and  are  saved  only 
"  so  as  by  fire."  The  four  Living  Ones,  and  the 
four-and  twenty  Elders,  are  the  representatives  of 
men  saved  from  the  earth.  They  sing  the  song 
of  redemption  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  But  they 
are  in  heaven,  crowned,  glorified,  and  installed  in 
blessed  priesthoods  and  kinghoods  in  advance  of 
the  vast  multitude  whose  rewards  are  far  inferior. 
Diversities  so  great  are  incompatible  with  the 
peculiar  honors  and  regality  of  the  wife  of  a  king. 
Besides,  princesses  and  queens,  above  all  on  oc- 
casions of  their  marriage,  always  have  their  associ- 
ates, companions,  maids  of  honor,  attendants,  suites, 
smd  friends,  who,  in  a  general  way,  are  counted 
with  them  as  making  one  and  the  same  company, 
but  who  in  fact  are  very  distinct  in  honor  and  priv- 
ilege from  those  on  whom  they  find  it  their  hap- 
piness to  attend.  Just  as  the  Bridegroom  comes 
not  alone,  but  with  attendants,  companions,  and  a 
long  train  of  rejoicing  ones  who  make  up  his  party, 
the  whole  of  whom  together  are  called  the  Bride- 
groom's coming,  whilst,  strictly  speaking,  there  is 
a  wide  difference  between  him  and  those  with  him ; 
so  it  is  on  the  side  of  the  Bride.  She  has  her  com- 
panions and  attendants  too, — "  virgins  which  fol- 
low her."  They  make  up  her  company  and 
train.  In  coming  to  wed  her  the  Bridegroom 
comes  also  into  near  and  close  relation  to  them. 
To  a  blessed  degree  they  share  the  Bride's  honors. 


LECTURE    XLII.     CHAP.    19:7-10.  221 

Aud  ill  general  terms  we  must  iuclade  them  when 
we  speak  of  the  Bride,  although,  in  strict  language, 
they  are  not  all  the  Bride.  The  Bride  has  rela- 
tions to  the  Bridegroom  which  belong  to  her  alone, 
and  it  is  only  because  of  her  and  their  association 
and  companionship  with  her,  and  not  because  they 
are  the  Bride  in  actual  fact,  that  the  whole  com- 
pany of  the  saved  Church  of  God  is  contemplated 
as  the  Lamb's  Wife. 

Hence,  also,  the  angel  directed  John  to  write, 
"Blessed  they  who  have  been  called  to  the  supper 
of  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb.''  It  is  the  wider 
and  the  more  general  blessedness  of  the  occasion 
that  the  seer  was  thus  to  attest.  If  all  the  saved 
were  actually  the  Bride,  it  would  have  been 
enough,  and  more  to  the  point,  to  say,  "Blessed 
they  that  are  called  to  be  the  Wife  of  the  Lamb." 
But  there  is  a  blessedness  of  being  called  to  wit- 
ness his  marriage,  and  a  blessedness  of  participa- 
tion with  the  bridal  company  in  the  marriage  ban- 
quet, as  well  as  a  more  special  blessedness  of  being 
the  actual  Bride  of  the  Lamb.  The  call  is  indeed 
to  make  up  the  Bride.  It  is  out  of  these  called 
ones  that  the  Bride  is  chosen.  But  the  choosing 
of  the  Bride  does  not,  therefore,  exclude  the  rest 
of  the  company  from  the  honors  and  privileges  of 
the  marriage  supper,  or  from  companionship  with 
the  Lamb  and  his  Wife.  The  blessedness  of  the 
marriage  supper  is  much  wider  than  that  of  be- 
coming the  Bride,  though  the  Bride  has  honor  and 
nearness  to  the  Lord  which  belong  to  her  only. 
Hence  the  writing  was  to  be,  not  simply  '^  Blessed 


222 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


they  that  are  called  to  be  the  Wife  of  the  Lamb," 
but  "  blessed  they  who  are  called  to  the  supper  of 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb," — called  as  in  the  par- 
able of  the  marriage  of  the  king's  son,  which  call 
includes  the  opportunity  to  become  the  Bride  as 
well  as  happy  guests. 

In  this  sense  also  am  I  constrained  to  take  the 
subsequent  showing  of  "the  Bride,  the  Lamb's 
Wife,''  "  that  great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  de- 
scending out  of  the  heaven  from  God."  It  is 
called  the  Bride,  because  it  embraces  the  Bride, 
and  because  it  is  the  Bride's  everlasting  home  and 
residence.  But  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  the 
home  and  residence  of  the  Lamb's  Wife,  it  must 
include  her  retinue,  her  companions,  and  her  at- 
tendants, who  share  the  glory  with  her,  but  who 
are  not  strictly  the  Bride  herself.  In  general 
terms  the  whole  city,  as  made  up  of  those  who 
inhabit  it,  including  all  the  saved  up  to  the  time 
of  the  resurrection  of  all  saints,  is  the  Bride,  the 
Lamb's  Wife,  because  all  that  are  there  pertain  to 
her  company,  fill  out  the  grandeur  and  glory  of 
her  estate,  and  share  immensely  in  it;  albeit,  some 
are  there  who,  in  a  narrower  and  more  particular 
discrimination,  are  not  actually  the  Bride. 

III.  What  is  the  making  of  Herself  ready  ?  The  allu- 
sion seems  to  be  to  something  of  the  same  sort  with 
the  putting  on  of  the  wedding  garment,  of  which 
so  much  is  made  in  the  parable  of  the  marriage  of 
the  king's  son.  (Matt.  22  :  1-14.)  There  one  of  the 
guests  was  found  without  a  wedding  garment,  and 
for  that  deficiency  was  put  away  from  the  happy 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.  223 

company  amid  shame  and  sorrow.  But  in  this 
ease  the  Bride  "prepared  herself.  And  it  was 
given  to  her  that  she  should  clothe  herself  in  fine 
linen, — bright,  pure, — for  the  fine  linen  is  the 
righteousnesses  of  the  saints.'^  Thus  it  is  said  in 
Isaiah  (61 :  10),  "I  will  greatly  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
my  soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God;  for  he  hath 
clothed  me  with  the  garments  of  salvation,  he  hath 
covered  me  w4th  the  robe  of  righteousness,  as  a 
bridegroom  decketh  himself  with  ornaments,  and 
as  a  bride  adorneth  herself  with  jewels.^'  Thus, 
also,  when  the  seer  saw  the  holy  city  coming  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven,  she  was  "  prepared  as  a 
bride  adorned  for  her  husband."  (21 :  2.)  The  ex- 
cellencies in  which  the  Bride  here  arrays  herself 
are  described  as  the  finest  linen,  of  the  intensest 
purity  and  lustre;  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  a 
spiritual  linen,  which  is  ''  the  righteousnesses  of 
the  saints." 

Three  things  appear  in  the  notice  of  this  ready- 
making.  (1)  There  is  self-activity  on  the  part  of 
the  Bride  to  prepare  herself.  (2)  There  is  gratuity 
and  bestowmeut,  putting  what  is  requisite  at  her 
command.  And  (3)  she  is  receptive  and  obedient 
in  making  the  intended  use  of  what  is  given  her. 
The  description  evidently  takes  in  the  whole  pre- 
vious career  of  those  who  make  up  the  Bride. 
The  preparation  refers  not  only  to  something  that 
is  done  at  this  time,  but  also  to  what  has  been  in 
the  course  of  doing  all  along,  and  now  comes  to 
its  fruit  and  award.  The  coming  to  Christ,  the 
learning  of  him,  the  espousal  to  him  in  holy  con- 
voL.  III.  72 


224  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

fession,  and  justification  bj  faith  in  hi»  blood 
and  merit,  are  unquestionably  included,  Paul 
was  aiming  at  this  very  preparedness  and  honor 
of  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb,  and  counted  all  tem- 
poral possessions  as  nothing,  and  exerted  himself 
in  every  way  to  be  fit  for  it.  But  that  fitness,  he 
tells  us,  was  his  being  found  not  having  his  own 
righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law, — a  mere  show 
of  human  works, — but  having  that  righteousness 
which  is  through  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  God  by  faith.  (Phil.  3 :  8-14.)  But 
the  righteous  acts  and  good  works  of  the  justified 
are  also  Included.  The  word  is  in  the  plural — 
"  the  righteousnesses  of  the  saints.'^  Some  call  it 
the  plurality  of  dignity,  and  make  nothing  special 
of  it.  Others  say  it  is  the  distributive  plural,  in 
allusion  to  the  many  who  have  it.  But  parallel 
instances  are  wanting  to  sustain  either  of  these 
theories.  It  distinctly  implies  that  the  saints  have 
more  than  one  righteousness,  as  the  Scriptures 
elsewhere  teach. 

There  is  a  righteousness  of  justification,  and 
a  riffhteousness  of  life  and  sanctification.  There 
is  a  righteousness  which  is  the  free  gift  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  a  righteousness  of  man's  own 
active  obedience  to  God's  ordinances  and  com- 
mands. True,  saints  have  both;  a  righteousness 
by  imputation  through  faith  without  works,  and  a 
righteousness  which  is  the  fruit  of  faith,  consist- 
ing of  works  springing  from  and  wrought  in  faith. 
And  both  enter  into  that  adornment  of  the  Bride 
wherein  she  maketh  herself  ready.    She  is  clothed 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7^10.  225 

with  the  fine  aud  shining  linen  of  "the  righteous- 
nesses of  the  saints,"  the  righteousness  of  a  free 
justification  by  faith  in  her  Lord  who  died  for  her, 
and  the  righteousness  of  a  life  of  earnest,  active, 
and  grateful  devotion  to  make  herself  meet  and 
worthy  for  so  good  and  gracious  a  Husband. 
(Comp.  Luke  20  :  35 ;  21 :  36;  Eph.  4:1;  Col.  I : 
10;  Rev.  3:4.) 

But  it  is  not  certain  that  the  clothing  of  herself 
in  these  righteousnesses  is  all  that  is  embraced  in 
the  Bride's  preparation  for  the  wedding.  That  is 
the  part  of  her  ready-making  as  respects  this  life; 
but  who  knows  what  else  remains  for  her  to  do 
after  this  life  is  over,  or  what  practical  activities 
remain  for  the  saints  between  the  moment  of  their 
removal  to  immortality  and  the  heavenly  solemni- 
ties which  are  shadowed  to  us  under  the  idea  of 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  ?  Heaven  is  no  more 
a  scene  of  quiescence  than  earth.  There  is  his- 
tory in  the  career  of  saints  after  they  leave  this 
world  as  well  as  in  it,  and  far  greater  and  sublimer 
history  than  pertains  to  them  here.  And  who 
knows  into  what  grand  activities  the  people  of 
God  are  ushered  when  their  mortality  is  swal- 
lowed up  of  life  ?  or  with  what  preparations  they 
may  then  be  called  to  busy  themselves  for  the  sub- 
lime events  and  ceremonies  that  lie  before  them 
in  their  instalment  into  the  relations  and  dignities 
of  their  everlasting  estate  ?  The  celestial  popula- 
tion seem  to  know  of  ready-making  in  heaven, 
which  comes  after  the  ready-making  on  earth, 
which  is  to  them  a  subject  of  glad  rejoicing,  aud 


226 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


of  new  and  special  giving  of  glory  to  God.  But 
just  what  it  is,  or  exactly  to  what  it  relates,  we 
must  content  ourselves  not  to  know  till  the  time 
for  it  comes. 

IV.  What  is  the  Marriage  f  Here  again  we  must 
be  satisfied  with  very  imperfect  information.  John 
did  not  see  the  marriage,  neither  was  it  explained 
to  him.  He  only  heard  the  heavenly  rejoicing 
that  the  time  for  it  had  come,  that  the  Bride  had 
prepared  herself,  and  that  he  was  to  declare  the 
blessedness  of  those  who  are  called  to  the  banquet 
then  to  be  spread.  That  the  marriage  and  the 
supper  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing,  the  nature 
of  the  case,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  referred  to,  would  seem  to  make  evident.  The 
marriage  is  accompanied  with  a  becoming  feast, 
but  the  feast  is  one  thing  and  the  marriage  is 
another,  though  occurring  at  the  same  time  and 
most  intimately  correlated. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  various  are  the  no- 
tions which  interpreters  have  given  of  this  mar- 
riage of  the  Lamb.  Beza,  Robertson  (of  Leu- 
chars),  Clarke,  and  others  are  confident  that  it 
refers  to  a  happy  condition  of  the  Church  in  this 
world,  when  "  whole  contemporary  churches  are 
in  covenant  with  Christ  in  a  most  upright  man- 
ner." It  is  supposed  by  these  that  when  the 
Church  becomes  more  pure  in  her  doctrines,  more 
pious  in  her  experiences,  and  more  righteous  in 
her  conduct  than  ever  she  has  yet  been,  this  whole 
showing  will  be  exhausted.  Accordingly,  the 
Bride  of  Christ  would  be  nothing  but  the  Chris- 


LECTURE    XLII.    GHAP.    19:7-10.  227 

tiaus  of  one  particular  generation,  and  the  Living 
Ones,  and  Elders,  and  the  multitude  which  no  man 
can  number,  and  the  144,000  sealed  ones,  and 
other  classes  which  this  Book  shows  to  be  in 
heaven  before  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  an- 
nounced, have  no  part  nor  lot  in  it.  Fuller  and 
William  Jones  see  the  whole  picture  fulfilled  in  a 
fancied  Millennium  on  earth,  "  when  Jews  and 
Gentiles  from  every  nation  under  heaven  shall  be 
brought  to  believe  in  Jesus,  and  led  to  confess  him 
as  their  true  Messiah,  Saviour,  and  King;"  which 
likewise  cuts  off  all  those  who  have  lived  and 
faithfully  served  Christ  in  all  the  long  ages  prior 
to  the  thousand  years,  and  equally  vacates  the 
whole  marriage  idea  as  contrasted  with  the  already 
existing  union  between  Christ  and  his  people. 
Hengstenberg  thinks  that  "  we  are  here  beyond 
the  thousand  years,  beyond  the  last  victory  over 
Gog  and  Magog,"  though  he  thus  makes  the  peo- 
ple in  heaven  say  it  is  coine  a  thousand  years  before 
it  does  come.  Some  refer  it  to  the  taking  again 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham  to  be  God's  peculiar  peo- 
ple, after  the  present  church  period  has  reached 
its  termination.  This  would  well  accord  with  a 
variety  of  Scripture  passages  otherwise  obscure, 
but  it  does  not  meet  some  of  the  main  features 
of  the  case.  If  at  all  in  the  contemplation,  it 
cannot  be  more  than  an  earthly  and  inferior  cor- 
respondence of  the  chief  thing,  which  must  relate 
to  heaven,  for  when  the  Bride  was  shown  to  John 
he  beheld  her  in  the  form  of  a  glorious  city  com- 
ing down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  proving  that 


228  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

her  marriage  must  needs  have  been  in  heaven. 
Vaughan  speaks  of  the  marriage  as  "  the  ideal 
concourse  and  combination  of  the  blessed  com- 
pany of  all  faithful  people  on  their  entrance  into 
their  rest."  This  would  seem  to  accord  with  the 
presentations  as  to  time  and  place,  but  tells  noth- 
ing as  to  what  the  marriage  itself  is.  Diisterdieck 
understands  it  to  be  "  Christ's  distribution  of  the 
eternal  reward  of  grace  to  his  faithful  ones,  who 
then  enter  with  him  into  the  full  glory  of  the 
heavenly  life;"  which  may  be  true  enough  in 
general,  for  the  marriage  is  surely  the  result, 
award,  and  consummation  of  grace  toward  the 
Bride;  but  it  still  leaves  us  in  the  region  of  mist 
and  darkness  as  to  any  difference  between  the 
marriage  and  the  judgment.  The  translator  of 
Lange  {in  loc.)  comes  closer  to  the  truth  when  he 
represents  the  marriage  as  "  the  union  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  saints  with  a  personally  present 
Christ  in  glory  and  government — the  establish- 
ment of  the  kingdom."  As  the  writer  of  The 
Apocalypse  Expounded  says,  "It  is  a  scene  taking 
place  in  the  heaven,  after  the  resurrection  of  the 
saints,  and  ere  Jesus  and  his  risen  ones  are  mani- 
fested to  the  earth,  as  heaven  is  not  opened  till 
the  marriage  has  occurred."  The  blessedness  of 
it  is  not  inaptly  described  by  Lange  to  be  "  the 
reciprocal  operation  of  a  spiritual  fellowship  of 
love."  It  is  Christ  in  the  character  of  the  Lamb, 
the  mighty  Goel,  formally  acknowledging  and 
taking  to  himself  as  copartners  of  his  throne,  do- 
minion, and  glory,  all  those  chosen  ones  who  have 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.     •         229 

been  faithful  to  their  betrothal,  and  appear  at  last 
in  the  spotless  and  shining  apparel  of  the  right- 
eousnesses of  the  saints,  thenceforward  to  be  with 
him,  reign  with  him,  and  share  with  him  in  all  his 
grand  inheritance,  forever. 

Just  what  the  ceremony  of  this  marriage  is  we 
are  nowhere  told.  Some  have  thought  that  it  is 
the  first  opening  of  the  city  of  God,  the  New  Je- 
rusalem, to  the  footsteps  of  the  redeemed.  Jesus 
says  that  he  is  now  preparing  a  place  for  us.  The 
ancient  saints  looked  for  a  city  whose  maker  and 
builder  is  God.  That  city  John  saw  and  describes 
in  a  subsequent  chapter.  That  city  was  shown  him 
as  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  Wife,  so  called  on  ac- 
count of  those  who  inhabit  and  dwell  in  it.  The 
placing  of  the  redeemed  with  their  Redeemer  in 
that  sublime  and  eternal  home  necessarily  involves 
some  befitting  formality.  ]^or  is  it  far-fetched  to 
connect  that  first  formal  entrance  into  that  illus- 
trious heaven-built  city  with  the  ceremonial  of 
what  is  described  as  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb. 
When  the  sacred  tabernacle  was  first  opened  and 
used  it  was  with  great  solemnities,  which  God 
himself  prescribed,  and  in  the  observance  of 
which  there  was  also  a  marked  coming  together 
of  God  and  his  people.  By  visible  manifestations 
of  Deity  a  point  of  union  and  communion  was 
then  and  there  established  between  man  and  Je- 
hovah, so  direct  and  close  that  the  holy  prophet 
could  say  of  Israel,  "  Thy  Maker  is  thy  Husband." 
And  the  fact  that  God  so  ordered  and  honored  the 
occasion  is  ample  warrant  for  taking  it  as  the 


230  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

type  of  a  corresponding  formality  in  the  heavens, 
answering  to  the  coming  together  of  the  Lamb 
and  his  affianced  people  for  the  first  time  in  that 
glorious  city,  which  even  the  great  voice  from  the 
throne  calls  "  The  Tabernacle  of  God."  (Chap. 
21 :  2,  3.) 

Y.  What  is  the  Marriage  Supper  ?  Contrary  to 
all  congruity,  many  take  it  as  about  one  and  the 
same  with  the  marriage  itself.  Marriage  is  the 
establishment  of  relationship  and  status;  a  mar- 
riage feast  is  the  refreshment,  the  eating,  and 
drinking,  and  general  social  joy  on  the  part  of 
those  attending  upon  a  marriage.  First  the  Bride- 
groom comes,  next  the  marriage  is  solemnized, 
and  then  the  assembled  company  is  invited  to  the 
special  repast  provided  for  the  occasion.  And  so 
in  this  case.  The  Bridegroom  appears,  the  mar- 
riage takes  place,  and  then  the  grand  banquet 
ensues;  so  that  the  supper  is  a  different  thing 
from  the  marriage,  though  following  immediately 
upon  it. 

Everywhere  in  the  Scriptures  do  we  hear  of  this 
feast.  As  in  the  matter  of  the  marriage,  some- 
thing of  it  is  to  be  enjoyed  already  in  this  life. 
There  is  a  supper  of  Gospel  blessings  of  which  we 
may  now  partake.  But  as  the  actual  marriage 
occurs  in  heaven  subsequent  to  the  resurrection,  so 
also  the  fulness  of  the  Gospel  supper  is  deferred  till 
then.  Isaiah  (25  :  6-9)  sung  of  a  feast  of  fat  things, 
of  wines  on  the  lees,  of  fat  things  full  of  marrow, 
of  wines  on  the  lees  well  refined,  which  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  is  to  make.     The  feast  of  Gospel  bless- 


LECTURE   XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.  231 

ings  is  doubtless  included;  but  it  is  a  feast  whose 
glorious  fulness  is  beyond  the  grave.  A  chief 
part  of  its  glory  is  that  then  "  death  is  swallowed 
up  in  victory,"  tears  are  all  wiped  away  by  Je- 
hovah's hand,  the  disabilities  and  hardships  of  his 
people  are  gone,  and  the  shout  is,  "  Lo,  this  is  our 
God ;  we  have  waited  for  him ;  we  will  be  glad  and 
rejoice  in  his  salvation.''  Of  that  same  feast  the 
Saviour  spoke  when  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  I 
will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this  fruit  of  the  vine 
until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in 
my  Father's  kingdom."  (Matt.  26  :  29.)  So,  also, 
when  he  had  finished  the  paschal  supper,  and  said, 
"  I  will  not  any  more  eat  thereof  until  it  be  ful- 
filled in  the  kingdom  of  God.''  (Luke  22  :  16.)  As 
Melchisedek,  king  of  righteousness,  and  king  of 
peace,  brought  forth  bread  and  wine  to  Abraham 
returning  from  the  scenes  of  judgment  upon  the 
marauding  kings,  so  will  he  whom  Melchisedek 
typified  spread  before  his  victorious  people  the 
precious  viands  of  a  heavenly  banquet,  of  which 
our  holy  Lord's  supper  is  the  constant  prophecy 
and  foretaste. 

Of  what  that  supper  shall  consist  we  cannot  yet 
know.  The  Scriptures  speak  of  bread  of  heaven 
and  angel's  food,  and  the  Saviour  tells  of  eating 
and  drinking  there.  He  who  supplied  the  wed- 
ding at  Cana,  and  fed  the  thousands  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  furnished  the  little  dinner  to  his  worn 
disciples  as  they  came  up  from  the  sea  of  toil  to 
the  shore  trodden  by  his  glorified  feet,  can  be  at 
no  loss  to  make  good  every  word,  and  letter,  and 


232  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

allusion  which  the  Scriptures  contain  with  refer- 
ence to  that  high  festival.  The  angels  know  some- 
thing about  it,  and  the  angel  told  John  that  it  will 
be  a  blessed  thing  to  be  there.  "  Write,"  said  the 
heavenly  voice,  "  write,  Blessed  they  who  have  been 
called  to  the  supper  of  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  J' 

VI.  Who^  then,  are  the  Guests  f  Chief  of  all  who 
sit  down  to  the  marriage  banquets  on  earth  are  the 
bridegroom  and  the  bride.  It  is  in  honor  of  their 
union  that  the  feast  is  held,  and  to  them  is  as- 
signed the  most  conspicuous  place.  This  is  a  gen- 
uine marriage  feast,  the  antitype  of  all  the  mar- 
riage feasts  of  time,  and  this  particular  feature 
cannot  be  wanting  there.  In  the  after  chapters 
we  are  told  that  the  Lamb  is  the  light  of  the 
golden  house  in  which  it  is  held.  He,  therefore, 
is  there  in  unveiled  glory,  the  observed,  the 
adored,  the  sublimest  joy  of  all.  And  where  he 
is  there  his  bride  is  also,  for  they  are  united  now, 
never  to  be  separated  any  more.  She  is  there  in 
all  her  perfected  loveliness,  "not  having  spot,  or 
wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,"  but  "all  glorious 
within,"  and  enfolded  in  her  garments  of  needle- 
work, and  gold,  and  in  the  faultless  and  radiant 
linen  of  the  righteousnesses  of  the  saints.  There 
also  are  "  the  virgins,  her  companions  that  follow 
her,"  and  make  up  her  sublime  and  glorious  train. 
And  whosoever,  in  any  age,  in  any  land,  of  any 
language,  of  any  tribe,  has  heard  of  the  promised 
seed  of  the  woman,  and  believed  in  him,  and  lis- 
tened to  the  calls  and  promises  of  God,  and  di- 
rected his  heart  and  pilgrim  steps  for  that  blest 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.  233 

city,  shall  likewise  be  there.  Whether  as  bride 
or  guest,  the  whole  Church  of  the  first-born,  from 
Adam  down  to  the  last  martyr  under  the  Anti- 
christ, shall  be  there,  radiant  in  that  redemption 
for  which  they  hoped  and  suffered.  The  quaint 
old  hymn  says  truly ; 

There  be  prudent  Prophets  all, 

The  Apostles  six  and  six, 
The  glorious  Martyrs  in  a  row, 

And  Confessors  betwixt. 
There  doth  the  crew  of  righteous  men 

And  nations  all  consist ; 
Young  men  and  maids  that  here  on  earth 

Their  pleasures  did  resist. 

The  sheep  and  lambs  that  hardly  'scaped 

The  snare  of  death  and  hell, 
Triumph  in  joy  eternally, 

Whereof  no  tongue  can  tell ; 
And  though  the  glory  of  each  one 

Doth  differ  in  degree, 
Yet  is  the  joy  of  all  alike 

And  common  certainly. 

There  David  stands,  with  harp  in  hand, 

As  master  of  the  choir  ; 
A  thousand  times  that  man  were  blessed 

That  might  his  music  hear. 
There  Mary  sings  "  Magnificat," 

With  tunes  surpassing  sweet ; 
And  all  the  virgins  bear  their  part, 

Singing  about  her  feet. 

"Te  Deum,"  doth  St.  Ambrose  sing, 

St.  Austin  doth  the  same ; 
Old  Simeon  and  Zacharie 

Anew  their  songs  inflame. 


234  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

There  Magdalene  hath  left  her  moan, 

And  cheerfully  doth  sing, 
With  all  blest  saints  whose  harmony 

Through  every  street  doth  ring. 

And  in  that  holy  company 

May  you  and  I  find  place. 
Through  worth  of  him  who  died  for  us, 

And  through  his  glorious  grace ; 
With  Cherubim  and  Seraphim, 

And  hosts  of  ransomed  men. 
To  sing  our  praises  to  The  Lamb, 

And  add  our  glad  Amen, 

VII.  What  authority/  have  we  for  all  this  f  There 
be  those  who  count  it  all  a  dream,  a  pleasant  fancy, 
a  sweet  hallucination,  by  which  enthusiastic  souls 
impose  upon  themselves.  And  if  it  were,  why 
deny  to  poor,  sorrowing,  and  afflicted  humanity 
its  consoling  radiance?  Be  it  a  mere  conceit,  is 
not  the  race  the  happier  and  the  better  for  believ- 
ing it?  But  no,  it  is  not  delusion.  The  very 
blessedness  which  it  diffuses  through  the  souls 
that  take  it  to  their  thoughts  is  a  voucher  for  its 
heavenly  reality.  The  holy  being  who  told  of  it 
to  the  seer  propounds  it  as  the  sum  of  all  sacred 
revelations,  and  says,  "  These  are  the  true  words  of 
Godr 

Ah,  yes;  there  is  a  Lamb,  once  slain,  now  risen 
and  glorified,  moving  serene  and  mighty  amid  the 
principalities  of  eternity,  himself  the  highest  of 
them  all,  to  whom  all  believers  stand  betrothed 
and  plighted,  preparing  and  waiting  for  a  wedding 
day  to  come,  when  they  shall  be  joined  to  him  in 
fellowship,  glory,  and  dominion  forever.     There 


LECTURE    XLII.    CHAP.    19:7-10.  235 

is  a  city  of  gold,  and  light,  and  jewels  for  God's 
people,  building  for  these  many  ages,  and  now 
near  its  readiness  for  their  everlasting  habitation. 
There  is  in  store  a  banquet  when  once  the  honored 
Bride  sets  foot  upon  its  golden  streets,  the  call  to 
which,  if  heeded,  is  man's  superlative  blessedness. 
Room  for  doubt,  is  none;  for  "these  are  the  true 
words  of  God.'" 

The  revelation  to  John  was  overpowering.  It  so 
thrilled  upon  his  soul,  and  so  stimulated  his  sense 
of  grateful  wonder  and  adoration,  that  he  fell  down 
before  the  angel's  feet  to  worship  him.  It  was  an 
error  to  offer  such  honor  to  a  fellow-servant  with 
himself,  and  the  same  was  promptly  checked ;  but 
it  helps  to  tell  the  entrancing  magnificence  of  the 
final  portion  of  the  saints— the  overwhelming 
majesty  of  the  glory  to  come  when  the  Bridegroom 
comes.  It  bends  the  soul  in  awe  even  towards  the 
messengers  who  tell  of  it.  It  is  more  than  heart 
of  flesh  can  well  stand  up  under,  even  in  prospect. 
What  then  will  be  the  actual  realization?  A 
holy  apostle  falls  upon  his  face  in  adoration  when 
he  hears  of  it,  and  the  glorified  in  heaven  cry, 
"Let  us  rejoice  and  exult,  and  we  will  give  the 
glory  to  God,"  when  the  time  for  it  arrives. 

What  then,  O  man,  O  woman,  is  the  state  and 
feeling  of  your  heart  concerning  it?  To  you  has 
come  the  call  to  the  supper  of  the  marriage  of  the 
Lamb ;  wTaat  is  the  response  you  have  made  to  it? 
To  you  is  offered  the  wedding  garment  to  appear 
there  in  honor  and  glory ;  have  you  accepted  it, 
and  put  it  on,  and  kept  its  purity  unsoiled  ?     The 


236  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

cry  has  long  been  ringing  in  your  ears,  "Behold, 
the  Bridegroom  corneth!"  Are  your  loins  girded 
about,  your  lights  burning,  and  ye  yourselves  like 
unto  those  who  wait  for  their  Lord  ?  Five  virgins 
once  set  out  to  reach  that  festival,  but  when  they 
came  "  the  door  ivas  shut"  They  knew  what  was 
required;  but  the  Bridegroom  came,  and  this  was 
the  consequence  of  their  unreadiness.  God  forbid 
that  this  should  be  your  experience ! 

Wake,  awake,  for  night  is  flying, 

The  watchmen  on  the  heights  are  crying ; 

Awake,  Jerusalem,  at  last ! 
Midnight  hears  the  welcome  voices. 
And  at  the  thrilling  cry  rejoices  ; 

Come  forth,  yo  virgins,  night  is  past! 

The  Bridegroom  comes,  awake, 

Your  lamps  with  gladness  take; 
Halleluia! 
And  for  His  marriage  feast  prepare, 
For  ye  must  go  to  meet  Him  there. 


LECTURE  FORTY-THIRD. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  GREAT  DAY  OF  GOD  ALMIGHTY  —  THE  SUBLIME 
HERO  — COMES  OUT  OF  THE  HEAVEN— HIS  HORSE  —  HIS 
CHARACTER— HIS  EYES  —  HIS  DIADEMS— HIS  NAMES— HIS 
CLOTHING  —  HIS  SWORD  —  HIS  TITLE  —  HIS  FOLLOWERS  — 
THEIR  HORSES  — THEIR  CLOTHING  —  THE  ARMIES  HE  EN- 
COUNTERS —  THE  LAUGH  OF  GOD  —  BIRDS  INVITED  TO  THE 
SLAUGHTER  — THE  BEAST  AND  FALSE  PROPHET'S  FATE — 
THE  SLAYING  OF  THE  ARMED  HOSTS  — THE  VICTORY. 


Rev.  19  ;  11-21.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  the  heaven  opened,  and 
behold  a  white  horse,  and  one  seated  upon  him,  Faithful  and  True, 
and  in  righteousness  he  judgeth  and  wurreth  ;  his  eyes  flame  of  fire, 
and  on  his  hend  many  diadems,  having  a  name  written  which  no  one 
knoweth  but  himself,  and  clothed  in  vesture  dipped  [or  stained]  with 
blood,  and  his  name  is  called  The  Word  of  God.  And  the  armies, 
the  ones  in  the  heaven  were  following  him  on  white  horses,  clothed  in 
fine  linen,  white,  pure.  And  out  of  his  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp 
sword,  that  with  it  he  may  smite  the  nations;  and  he  shall  rule  [or 
shepherdize\  them  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  and  he  treadeth  the  winepress 
of  the  wine  of  the  anger  of  the  wrath  of  the  God,  the  All-Ruler.  And 
he  hath  upon,  his  vesture,  oven  upon  his  thigh  a  name  written,  King  of 
Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords. 

And  I  saw  a  certain  angel  standing  in  the  sun,  and  he  cried  with  a 
great  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  that  fly  in  mid-heaven,  Hither,  be 
gathered  together  to  the  great  supper  of  God,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh  of 
kings,  and  flesh  of  captains  of  thousands,  and  flesh  of  mighty  men, 
and  flesh  of  horses,  and  of  those  that  sit  on  them,  and  flesh  of  all 
[classes],  both  free  and  bond,  and  small  and  great. 

And  I  saw  the  beast,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  his  armies, 
gathered  together  to  make  the  battle  with  the  sitter  upon  the  horse, 
and  with  his  army.  And  the  beast  was  taken,  and  with  him  the  false 
prophet  who  wrought  the  miracles  in  his  presence  with  which  he  de- 

(237) 


238  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ceived  those  who  received  the  mark  of  the  heast  and  those  who  worship 
his  image ;  these  two  were  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire  which 
burneth  with  brimstone  ;  and  the  rest  were  slain  with  the  sword  of  the 
sitter  on  the  horse,  which  (sword)  proceedeth  out  of  his  mouth ;  and 
the  fowls  were  filled  from  their  flesh. 


THE  marriage  of  the  Lamb,  and  the  grand  ban- 
quet which  attends  it,  are  speedily  followed 
with  the  closing  scene  of  this  present  world.  It 
is  a  scene  of  war  and  blood.  It  is  the  battle  of 
the  great  day  of  God  Almighty.  It  is  the  coming 
forth  of  the  powers  of  eternity  to  take  forcible 
possession  of  the  earth.  It  finds  all  the  confed- 
erated kingdoms  of  man  mustered  in  rebellion 
against  the  anointed  and  rightful  sovereign  of 
the  earth.  A  collision  ensues,  which  is  the  most 
wonderful  that  ever  occurs  under  heaven.  And 
the  result  is  a  victory  for  the  right,  which  is  to  be 
forever.  The  description  is  one  of  the  grandest 
contained  in  these  Revelations.  In  proceeding  to 
contemplate  it  four  things  are  to  be  considered  : 

I.  The  Mighty  Conqueror. 
II.  The  hosts  which  follow  him. 

III.  The  armies  he  encounters. 

IV.  The  completeness  of  his  triumph. 

God  help  us  to  take  in  these  particulars  to  our 
edification  and  spiritual  profit. 

I. 

The  sublime  Hero  of  the  scene  is  none  other 
than  our  ever  blessed  Lord  Jesus.     His  name  is 


LECTURE    XL  III.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  239 

not  given,  but  the  marks  and  inscriptions  which  he 
bears,  and  all  that  is  said  of  him,  infallibly  identify 
him  as  that  same  Jesus  who  went  up  into  heaven 
from  the  summit  of  Mt.  Olivet,  and  whose  holy 
feet  are  to  stand  again  on  these  self-same  heights. 
He  comes  forth  out  of  the  heaven.  For  this  pur- 
pose John  saw  it  opened.  When  Jesus  came  up 
from  the  waters  of  baptism,  "  the  heavens  were 
open  unto  him,"  and  the  Spirit  descended  upon 
him,  and  a  voice  from  the  empyrean  depths  said, 
"This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased.^'  (Matt.  8  :  16.)  When  Stephen  was  mar- 
tyred he  saw  "the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son 
of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 
(Acts  7  :  55.)  When  Jesus  was  on  earth  he 
promised  his  disciples  that  they  should  see  the 
heaven  opened.  (Jno.  1  :  51.)  At  the  beginning 
of  these  visions  John  beheld  a  door  opened  in  the 
heaven,  and  through  that  opening  he  was  called 
up,  while  all  was  closed  to  the  general  mass  of 
men.  (Rev.  4  : 1.)  But  here  was  quite  a  different 
opening  from  any  that  has  occurred  or  will  occur 
till  then.  This  is  that  rending  of  the  heaven  for 
the  glorious  Epiphany  of  Christ  with  his  people, 
to  which  the  Scriptures  refer  so  much.  For,  as 
we  believe  that  "  he  ascended  into  heaven,  and 
sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father  Al- 
mighty,^' so  we  believe  that  "  from  thence  he  shall 
come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead."  So  the 
Lamb,  being  married  now,  leaves  the  Father 
house  and  comes  forth  to  take  possession  of  what 
is  peculiarly  his  own. 

VOL.  III.  73 


240  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

He  rides  upon  a  white  horse.  This  horse  tells  of 
royalty,  judgment,  and  war.  His  white  color  tells 
of  righteousness  and  justice.  Light  is  the  robe 
of  divine  majesty,  and  white  is  the  color  that  most 
attaches  to  Chri-st  in  all  these  judgment  scenes. 
When  the  first  seal  broke  he  rode  a  white  horse ; 
when  the  great  harvest  is  reaped  he  sits  upon  a 
white  cloud  ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  thousand  years 
he  sits  upon  a  white  throne;  and  so  here  he  is 
seated  on  the  white  steed  of  battle,  for  *'  in  right- 
eousness doth  he  make  war."  In  the  day  of  his 
humiliation  he  rode  but  once — when  he  came  to 
the  Jewish  nation  as  its  anointed  king.  But  he 
then  rode  upon  an  ass,  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass. 
Then  he  was  the  meek  and  lowly  one;  but  here 
the  little  domestic  animal  is  exchanged  for  the 
martial  charger,  for  this  is  another  and  might- 
ier coming  as  the  King  of  the  World,  "just  and 
having  salvation."  In  his  majesty  he  rides  pros- 
perously, because  of  truth,  and  meekness,  and 
righteousness. 

He  is  Faithful  and  True.  This  presents  him  in 
sharp  contrast  with  those  whom  he  cometh  to 
judge  and  destroy.  The  Dragon  is  the  deceiver; 
the  Beast  is  the  False  Christ;  his  companion  is 
the  False  Prophet,  and  the  great  confederacy  is 
made  up  of  false  worshippers.  These  are  to  be 
handled  now,  and  it  is  the  embodiment  of  all 
faithfulness  and  truth  that  comes  to  deal  with 
them.  There  is  then  no  hope  for  them,  for  if 
justice  be  done  them  they  have  no  show  whatever. 
The  worst  thing  that  can  happen  to  some  is  to  give 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  241 

them  what  they  deserve.  But  greatly  do  these  at- 
tributes exalt  this  Hero.  They  lift  him  far  above 
the  level  of  humanity.  They  bespeak  almighti- 
ness  and  essential  Godhead.  (Comp.  chaps.  3 :  7; 
6  :  10 ;  15:3;  16:7.)  They  cannot  be  predicated 
of  any  mere  man.  "  Cursed  be  the  man  that 
trusteth  in  man."  There  is  too  much  deceit  and 
treachery  in  human  nature  for  it  to  be  always  and 
implicitly  trusted.  (Com.  Ps.  72:  9;  116:11;  118: 
8;  Jer.  17  :  5.)  But  here  is  one  who  is  absolutely 
true  and  faithful.  It  is  not  in  him  to  be  or  to 
prove  unreliable.  Though  all  men  be  liars,  he  is 
true,  and  cannot  disappoint. 

In  righteousness  he  judgeth  and  warreth.  In  the 
letter  to  the  Laodiceans  he  was  "  the  Faithful  and 
True  Witness,''  reproving  and  instructing  his 
friends;  here  he  is  the  Faithful  and  True  War- 
rior and  Judge,  for  the  punishment  of  his  enemies. 
Heaven  cannot  be  at  peace  with  iniquity,  and  jus- 
tice cannot  be  at  amity  with  falsehood  and  rebel- 
lion. When  sin  is  once  incorrigible,  and  incur- 
able by  remedial  measures,  it  must  be  put  down 
by  force  of  arms.  Mercy  slighted  and  abused 
brings  the  executioner.  The  world  banded  to- 
gether in  arms  against  its  true  Sovereign  brings 
against  it  the  sword  of  insulted  majesty.  Not  as 
human  kings  and  nations  war, — out  of  covetous- 
ness,  pride,  and  an  ambition  for  selfish  greatness 
and  dominion, — but  in  absolute  justice  and  right, 
and  in  strictest  accord  with  every  holy  principle 
and  every  holy  interest  he  now  unsheaths  and 
wields  the  sword  of  infinite  power.     Dreadful  is 


242  '^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

the  carnage  which  follows,  but  no  one  can  ever 
say  that  it  is  not  precisely  what  was  merited  .and 
demanded.  The  powers  of  judging  and  making 
war  are  often  separated  in  earthly  sovereignties, 
but  it  is  only  a  conventional  separation.  They 
necessarily  go  together  after  all.  Wherever  there 
is  war  there  is  first  a  judgment  made  or  enter- 
tained against  those  upon  whom  it  is  made,  or  in 
behalf  of  those  whom  it  is  to  benefit.  The  gen- 
eral in  the  field  is  simply  the  sheriff  and  hangman 
of  the  court.  And  Christ  is  both  judge  and  exe- 
cutioner, all  powers  in  one,  and  all  exercised  in 
righteousness.  To  the  Church  he  is  the  High 
Priest,  with  girdle  and  ephod,  stars  and  lamps,  the 
minister  of  righteousness  unto  salvation.  To  the 
world  in  armed  rebellion  he  is  the  mounted  War- 
rior, the  minister  of  righteousness  unto  destruc- 
tion ;  but  in  both  and  always  "  Jesus  Christ  The 
Righteous." 

His  eyes  flame  of  fire.  To  judge  rightly  he  must 
see  through  and  through,  search  all  depths,  look 
beneath  all  masks,  penetrate  all  darkness,  and  try 
everything  to  its  ultimate  residuum.  Hence  this 
flaming  vision,  which  likewise  tells  of  the  fierce- 
ness of  his  wrath  against  his  enemies.  There  is 
often  something  wonderfully  luminous,  penetra- 
ting, overawing,  in  the  human  eye.  Men  have 
been  killed  by  the  look  of  kings.  It  is  like  the 
living  intellect  made  visible,  which  seems  to  read 
all  secrets  at  a  glance,  and  before  which  the  be- 
holder cowers.  It  is  this  infinitely  intensified, 
flashing  like  a  sword  of  fire  from  the  visual  orbs, 


LECTURE   XLIIL    CHAP.    19:11-21.  243 

that  the  holy  apostle  here  beheld  in  this  Warrior 
Judge.  It  is  an  eye-flame  of  Omniscient  percep- 
tion and  out-breaking  indignation  and  wrath, 
which  seizes  and  unmans  the  foe  before  he  feels 
the  sword. 

On  His  head  many  diadems.  He  is  not  only 
Judge  and  General,  but  at  the  same  time  the  King 
himself.  When  David  conquered  the  Ammon- 
ites, he  put  the  crown  of  the  vanquished  king  on 
his  own  head,  in  addition  to  the  crown  he  already 
had.  (2  Sam.  12:  30.)  When  Ptolemy  entered  An- 
tioch,  he  set  two  crowns  upon  his  head,  the  crown 
of  Asia  and  the  crown  of  Egypt.  (1  Mace.  11 :  13.) 
The  Popes  wear  a  triple  crown,  emblematic  of 
three  sovereignties  united  in  one.  The  Dragon 
has  seven  diadems  on  his  seven  heads,  as  the  pos- 
sessor of  the  seven  great  world-powers  (chap. 
12  :  3).  The  Beast  has  ten  diadems  on  his  ten  horns, 
as  combining  ten  sovereignties,  (chap.  13  :  1.) 
In  all  these  cases,  the  accumulation  of  crowns  ex- 
presses accumulated  victory  and  dominion.  It  is 
the  same  in  this  case.  Christ  comes  against  the 
Beast  and  his  confederates  as  the  conqueror  on 
many  fields,  the  winner  of  many  mighty  battles, 
the  holder  of  many  sovereignties  secured  by  his 
prowess  and  power.  He  comes  as  the  One  anointed 
and  endowed  of  heaven  with  all  the  sovereignties 
of  the  earth  as  his  rightful  due  and  possession. 
When  he  came  as  the  mighty  Angel,  with  the  lit- 
tle book  in  his  hand  as  his  title  to  the  earth,  the 
rainbow  was  on  his  head  (chap.  10);  but  he  then 
came  in  mercy  and  promise  to  his  own.    He  comes 


244  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

now  as  the  Warrior,  Judge,  and  King  against  com- 
bined usurpers  in  arms,  against  those  who  dispute 
his  right  to  the  dominion  purchased  with  his 
blood,  and  lie  puts  on  all  his  royal  rights. 

He  has  an  unknowable  Name.  John  saw  it  written, 
and  was  awed  with  its  splendor;  but  it  was  too 
much  for  him,  or  any  other  man,  to  understand  or 
know.  Jesus  once  said,  "No  man  knoweth  the 
Son  but  the  Father"  (Matt.  11  :  27);  and  here  he 
appears  in  all  those  unrevealed  and  unknowable 
wonders,  which  connect  him  with  incomprehen- 
sible Godhead.  The  Beast  is  full  of  names,  great, 
high,  and  awful  names;  but  they  are  false  names— r 
*'  names  of  blasphemy."  This  Warrior,  Judge, 
and  King  has  a  name  ineffable  and  unknowable, 
but  it  is  a  true  and  rightful  name, — a  name  of  real- 
ity, "  which  is  above  every  name."  We  do  not 
yet  know  all  the  majesty  of  attributes  or  being 
which  belong  to  our  sublime  Saviour;  and  when 
he  comes  forth  out  of  heaven  for  the  war  upon 
the  Beast,  he  will  come  in  vast  unknowableness 
of  greatness, — in  heights  of  majesty  and  glory, 
"which  no  one  knoweth  but  himself."  (Comp. 
Judges  13:  18;  Rev.  2:17.) 

Clothed  in  vesture  dipped  or  stained  with  blood. 
Some  are  embarrassed,  that  the  blood  should  here 
appear  upon  Christ's  garments  before  the  engage- 
ment begins,  and  so  talk  of  anticipation.  It  is  a 
needless  perplexity,  although  these  bloodstains 
are  certainly  not  from  his  own  blood.  They  have 
no  reference  whatever  to  his  having  died  upon 
the  cross.     Thej^  are  stains  from  the  blood  of  ene- 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  245 

mies  slain, — enemies  previously  vanquished, — and 
so  the  marks  of  a  veteran  in  battle.  This  con- 
quering Hero  is  not  now  for  the  first  time  to  try 
his  capacities  for  war.  Who  but  he  was  it  that 
"cut  Rahab  and  wounded  the  Dragon?"  Who 
but  he  was  it  that  fought  for  Israel  "  in  the  days 
of  Joshua,  when  opposing  kings  with  kings  were 
put  to  the  sword  and  all  their  armies  ?"  Who  but 
he  was  it  that  "fought  from  heaven"  against  the 
kings  of  Canaan  in  Taanach  by  the  waters  of  Me- 
giddo,  when*' the  stars  in  their  courses  fought 
against  Sisera  ?  ^'  Who  but  he  was  the  vanquisher 
of  the  six  great  blasphemous  world-powers  already 
dead  and  gone  ?  And  as  the  seventh,  and  last,  and 
worst  of  all  is  now  to  be  overwhelmed,  and  the 
same  almighty  Conqueror  comes  forth  to  execute 
the  doom,  he  properly  comes  in  the  same  gar- 
ments worn  and  stained  on  so  many  battlefields, 
indicating  that  he  comes  in  the  same  capacity,  for 
the  same  ends,  and  with  the  same  invincible  power, 
as  in  other  judgments  upon  bis  enemies.  That  red 
apparel,  and  those  garments  like  one  that  treadeth 
the  vinefat,  are  at  once  the  memorials  of  the  past, 
and  the  prophecies  of  what  is  now  to  be  consum- 
mated upon  these  last  confederates  against  his 
kingdom. 

His  Name  is  called  The  Word  of  God.  This  is 
one  of  the  pre-eminent  designations  of  the  Son  of 
God,  who  became  incarnate  in  Jesus  Christ.  "By 
the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made." 
(Ps.  33  :  6.)  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  w^as  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. 


246  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

All  things  were  made  by  him.  And  the  Word  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld 
his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth "  (Jno.  1 : 1-14.) 
He  is  the  Word  of  God — the  Logos — as  the  true 
and  only  expression  of  the  eternal  Godhead,  as 
tlie  great  subject  and  substance  of  the  written 
Word,  as  the  accomplishment  and  fulfiller  of  the 
written  Word,  and  the  very  expression  and  rev- 
elation of  the  Father,  the  same  as  words  express 
the  thoughts  of  the  heart. 

Out  of  his  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp  sword,  that  with 
it  he  may  smite  the  nations.  Some  take  this  as  "  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God; " 
but  that  is  an  instrument  of  mercy  and  salvation ; 
this  is  an  instrument  of  wrath  and  destruction.  It  is 
"  sharp  ^'  like  the  sickle,  and  fulfils  the  same  office. 
It  is  the  word  of  almighty  justice.  It  proceeds  out 
of  his  mouth.  So  Isaiah  (11 :  4)  said,  "  He  shall 
smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth,  and 
with  the  breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the 
wicked."  This  shows  the  ease  with  which  he 
accomplishes  his  purposes.  He  speaks,  and  it 
is  done.  He  commands,  and  it  is  accomplished. 
Something  of  this  was  preintimated  when  the 
armed  mob  came  foHh  against  him  in  Gethsem- 
ane.  "  When  Jesus  spake  to  them,  I  am  he,  they 
went  backward,  and  fell  to  the  ground."  (Jno. 
18  :  5.)  If  so  mild  an  utterance  prostrated  his  ene- 
mies then,  what  will  it  be  when  he  girds  and 
crowns  himself  for  the  "  battle  of  the  great  day  of 
God  Almighty" — when  he   comes  with   all   the 


LECTURE    XL II I.    CHAP.   19:11-21.  247 

cavalcade  of  heaven  to  tread  the  winepress  of  the 
fierceness  of  Jehovah's  anger?  "The  Word  of 
God  is  quick,  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any 
two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing 
asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and 
marrow  "  (Heb.  4  :  12) ;  and  when  that  Word  goes 
forth  in  execution  of  Almighty  wrath  upon  those 
in  arms  against  his  throne,  what  a  flow  of  blood, 
and  wilting  of  life,  and  tornado  of  deadly  disaster 
must  it  work ! 

And  he  hath  upon  his  vesture,  even  upon  his  thigh 
a  name  written,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords. 
Thus  the  Psalmist  in  anticipation  sung,  "  Gird 
thy  sword  upon  thy  thigh,  O  most  Mighty."  (Ps. 
45  :  3.)  It  is  on  his  thigh  that  the  warrior  carries 
his  sword ;  but  here  the  sword  proceeds  from  the 
mouth,  and  hence  in  its  place  is  a  name  rep- 
resenting it;  for  the  Psalmist  defines  the  sword 
in  this  case  as  his  glory  and  majesty.  The  sword 
stands  for  authority  and  the  right  to  punish  rebels 
and  evildoers.  It  tells  of  the  majesty  and  domin- 
ion of  him  who  bears  it.  And  the  authority,  ma- 
jesty and  dominion  of  Christ  is  this,  that  he  is 
^^  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,'^  now  no  longer 
in  mere  theory  or  appointment,  but  in  present 
assertion,  armed  to  enforce  his  rights.  For  ages 
the  government  of  the  world  had  been  in  other 
hands.  Beasts  held  the  sword  and  reigned.  They 
have  ever  abused  it  against  him  and  his  people. 
And  now  they  have  confederated  with  Hell  to  hold 
it  even  against  the  forces  of  Omnipotence.  Dread- 
ful miscalculation  !  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah 


248  '^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

comes  to  meet  them.  He  comes  in  the  claim  and 
majesty  of  the  sharp  sword  of  the  King  over  all 
these  kings  and  Lord  over  all  these  lordly  ones. 
On  his  thigh  is  the  name  of  his  authority — the 
sword  name  of  his  sovereignty.  And  woe  to  the 
powers  that  now  think  to  withstand  him.  "The 
Lord  shall  swallow  them  up  in  His  wrath,  and  the 
fire  shall  devour  them."  (Ps.  21 :  19.) 

Such,  then,  is  the  mighty  Hero  who  comes  forth 
from  the  opened  heavens  to  light  this  ''  battle  of 
the  great  day  of  God  Almighty."  Let  us  look 
next  at  the  Hosts  which  follow  him. 


n. 

When  the  Lord  Jesus  is  revealed  from  heaven, 
in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  upon  them  that 
know  not  God  and  that  obey  not  the  Gospel,  he 
does  not  come  alone.  He  is  married  now,  and 
his  Bride  is  with  him.  .  Even  before  the  flood, 
Enoch  prophesied  of  this  epiphany  of  the  promised 
One,  and  said,  "Behold  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten 
thousand  of  his  saints  to  execute  judgment  upon 
all."  (Jude  14, 15.)  They  are  with  him  now,  there- 
fore they  must  have  been  taken  before.  John  saw, 
and  writes,  "  T'he  armies,  the  ones  in  the  heaven,  were 
following  him.''  Christ  is  the  Head  and  Leader, 
and  he  goes  before;  his  saints  follow  in  his  train. 
The  promise  from  the  beginning  was,  that  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,  and  here  it  is  emphasized  that  "He  himself 
treadeth  the  v/inepress  of  the  wine  of  the  anger  of 


LECTURE    XLIIL     CHAP.    19:11-21.  249 

the  wrath  of  the  God,  the  All-Ruler."  He  himself 
is  the  Great  Hero  and  Conqueror  in  thi.s  battle. 
But  he  is  "  Jehovah  of  hosts."  He  has  many  under 
his  command.  The  armies  of  the  sky  are  his,  and 
he  brings  them  with  him,  even  "the  called  and 
chosen,  and  faithful"  (chap.  17;  14). 

On  white  horses.  The  great  Captain  is  mounted, 
and  they  are  mounted  too.  He  comes  as  the 
Warrior,  Judge,  and  King,  and  they  share  witli 
him  in  the  same  character.  They  are  warrior 
judges  and  kings  with  him.  In  chapter  9,  we 
were  introduced  to  cavalry  from  the  under  world, 
of  spirit  horses  from  beneath;  why  not  then  celes- 
tial horses  also  ?  Horses  and  chariots  of  fire  pro- 
tected Elisha  at  Dothan.  Horses  of  fire  took  up 
Elijah  into  heaven.  And  heavenly  horses  bring 
the  saints  from  heaven  when  they  come  with  their 
great  Leader  for  the  final  subjugation  of  the  world 
to  his  authority.  It  is  up  to  the  bridle-bits  of 
these  horses  that  the  blood  in  that  battle  is  to  flow 
(chap.  14 :  20).  These  horses  are  all  white,  the  same 
as  the  Great  Captain  rides.  Everything  is  in  har- 
mony. The  riders  all  are  royal  and  righteous  ones, 
and  the  same  is  expressed  in  the  color  of  their 
horses. 

Whether  literal  horses  are  to  be  understood,  it 
is  not  necessary  to  inquire.  Power  is  an  abstract 
quality,  incapable  of  being  seen  with  the  eye.  It 
must  put  on  shape  in  order  to  become  visible.  It 
is  best  shown  in  living  forms.  So  we  had  to  do 
with  symbolic  horses  in  chapter  eleven.  But  here 
the  whole  character  of  the  showing  is  different. 


250  THE  Apocalypse. 

This  opening  of  the  heaven,  the  coming  forth  of 
Christ  with  his  heavenly  armies  to  the  battle  which 
ensues,  the  destruction  which  is  wrought,  the  vic- 
tory w'hich  is  won,  and  the  kingdom  which  is  set 
up,  is  so  essentially  literal  in  each  particular,  that 
it  is  hard  to  find  room  in  the  record  for  any  other 
conclusion  than  that  the  horses  are  as  literal  as  the 
sitters  on  them.  Thej^  are  at  least  the  pictures  of 
holy  power  bearing  the  King  and  his  hosts  to 
battle  and  victory  over  literal  armies.  There  was 
reality  in  the  powers  which  carried  up  Elijah,  and 
there  is  reality  in  the  powers  on  which  these 
heavenly  armies  ride  forth  to  the  battle  of  the  great 
day;  and  I  know  not  w^hy  these  powers  should 
not  be  in  the  form  of  real  horses,  of  the  character 
of  the  world  to  which  they  belong.  "  The  four 
Spirits  of  the  heavens,  which  go  forth  from  stand- 
ing before  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth,"  were  shown 
to  Zechariah  (6:  8)as horses, drawingfour  chariots; 
and  I  know  not  why  we  may  not  here  understand 
the  same  or  similar  "  spirits  of  the  heavens,"  put 
forth  in  similar  forms.  Habakkuk  (3 :  8),  refer- 
ring to  this  very  scene,  addresses  the  Lord,  and 
says,  "  Thou  didst  ride  upon  thine  horses,  thy  chariots 
of  salvationJ^  There  are  "chariots  of  God;"  and 
so  there  must  be  horses  of  God.  It  is  never  safe 
to  explain  away  what  may  have  in  it  a  momentous 
literal  reality,  even  though  it  may  be  very  differ- 
ent from  anything  we  know  of.  At  any  rate,  the 
armies  of  heaven,  as  they  here  appear,  are  all 
cavalry. 

"  Clothed  in  fine  linen,  lohiie,  jmre. "    The  fine  linen 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  251 

was  explained  in  the  verses  preceding.  It  is  "the 
righteousness  of  the  saints."  Therefore  these 
armies  are  saints,  and  not  angels,  as  some  have 
supposed.  Those  who  share  the  kingdom  with 
Christ  are  everywhere  called  "  the  righteous,"  and 
these  have  the  apparel  of  the  righteous,  even  that 
with  which  it  was  given  the  Bride  to  be  clothed. 
Long  ago,  referring  to  this  very  scene,  the  Psalm- 
ist (58  :  10,  11)  sung,  "  The  righteous  shall  rejoice 
when  he  seeth  the  vengeance :  he  shall  wash  his 
feet  in  the  blood  of  the  wicked ;  so  that  a  man 
shall  say,  verily  there  is  a  reward  for  the  righteous : 
verily  He  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth." 
They  reign  with  the  mighty  Conqueror  after  the 
battle ;  and  so  they  share  in  the  battle  and  tri- 
umph which  bring  the  Kingdom.  "Do  ye  not 
know  that  the  saints  shall  judge  the  world?" 
(1  Cor.  6  :  2.) 

They  wear  no  armor.  They  are  immortal,  and 
cannot  be  hurt ;  and  they  are  not  the  executors  of 
this  vengeance.  It  is  Christ's  own  personal  vic- 
tory, in  accordance  with  the  Apostolic  declara- 
tion, that  "  for  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  was 
manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of 
the  Devil."  (1  Jno.  3 :  8.)  He  bears  the  only 
sword,  and  he  alone  uses  it.  He  treadeth  the  wine 
press  alone.  Those  who  accompany  him  in  the 
scene  of  conflict  therefore  need  no  weapons.  The 
sword  of  the  great  Captain  is  enough.  Their' 
defence  is  in  him,  and  their  victory  is  in  him. 
They  follow  up  the  achievements  of  his  sword. 
They  ride  through   the  blood  it  causes  to  flow. 


252  T^^    APOCALYPSE. 

They  'Svash  their  feet  in"  it,  for  it  is  up  to  the 
horses'  bridles.  But  it  is  David  who  slays  Goliath, 
and  the  hosts  of  God's  Israel  have  only  to  follow 
up  the  mighty  triumph,  shouting  their  songs  along 
the  path  of  the  victory.  When  the  wicked  are 
cut  off,  they  shall  see  it ;  they  shall  diligently  con- 
sider the  place  of  the  wicked,  and  it  shall  not  be ; 
but  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth,  and  delight 
themselves  in  the  abundance  of  peace.  (Ps.  37 :  10, 
11,  34.)  But  who  are  the  armies  encountered  ? 

III. 

Here  we  are  left  in  no  doubt.  John  says,  "  / 
saw  the  Beast,  and  the  kiyigs  of  the  earth,  and  his 
armies,  gathered  together  to  make  the  battle  with  the 
Sitter  upon  the  horse,  arid  with  his  army.''  How  they 
were  gathered,  we  were  told  in  what  occurred 
under  the  pouring  out  of  the  sixth  bowl  of  wrath 
(chap.  16 :  12-16).  Devil  agents  working  devil 
miracles,  were  brought  into  requisition.  They 
went  forth  "  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth,  even  of 
the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  to  the  battle  of 
that  great  day  of  God  Almighty."  It  was  through 
these  devil  oracles  that  they  learned  of  Christ's 
coming  to  unseat  and  destroy  them  ;  and  by  these 
devil  miracles  they  were  led  to  believe  themselves 
competent  to  withstand  all  the  armies  of  the 
'heaven.  Therefore  they  agreed  to  try  it,  and  to 
defeat  all  these  Jehovah  purposes  of  ill  to  their 
usurped  dominion  and  blasphemous  pretensions. 
IJad  they  not  a  supernatural  and  immortal  leader 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21. 


253 


in  the  Beast,  that  was  not  but  is  again  present  ? 
Had  they  not  with  him  a  great  supernatural  and 
equally  immortal  Prophet,  who  knew  everything, 
who  had  power  over  the  forces  of  nature,  who 
could  even  command  fire  from  heaven  and  give 
spirit  to  a  metalic  image?  Would  not  these  ad- 
ditional miracle-working  spirits  be  their  efficient 
helpers?  If  they  made  no  effort,  no  resistance,  what 
hope  was  there  for  them  ?  Was  not  the  Beast  God, 
"  above  all  that  is  called  God  ?"  Had  eternity  any- 
thing that  could  harm  or  vanquish  such  powers? 
Had  not  every  soldier  in  their  armies  learned  how  to 
strengthen  and  sustain  himself  by  spirit  influences 
far  above  unaided  human  ability?  Let  the  Rider 
on  the  white  horse  come;— let  him  be  supported  by 
myriads  of  his  white-robed  cavalry  on  their  white 
horses; — if  he  did  work  miracles  in  his  lifetime, 
neither  he  nor  his  followers  ever  wrought  such  as 
those  which  the  potencies  now  urging  them  to  armed 
resistance  had  shown.  The  struggle  might  be  a  hard 
one,  but  a  combined  and  energetic  effort  would 
surely  be  successful.  So  they  were  taught;  so  they 
reasoned ;  so  they  believed.  ^'  Strong  delusion  "  was 
upon  them,  "  that  they  should  believe  a  lie,  that  they 
all  might  be  damned.''  (2  Thess.  2 :  9-12.)  So  they 
all  with  one  accord,  wentzealously  into  a  great  hell- 
indited  and  hell-sealed  compact  and  confederation, 
to  make  battle  with  the  Lamb,  the  Sitter  on  the 
horse,  and  his  army. 

We  may  wonder  how  rational  men  could  be 
carried  with  one  impulse  into  an  attempt  so  daring 
aad  so  absurd  ;  but  when  people  put  the  truth  from 


254  'fHE    APOCALYPSE. 

them,  and  submit  themselves  to  the  DeviPs  lead, 
what  is  there  of  delusion  and  absurdity  into  which 
they  are  not  liable  to  be  carried  ?  How  many 
among  us  comfort  and  assure  themselves  in  their 
selfishness  and  sins  with  the  belief  that  either  there 
is  no  God,  or  that  he  is  too  good  and  merciful  to 
fulfil  his  threatenings  upon  transgressors  ?  To  this 
there  needs  to  be  added  only  one  step  more,  to 
defy  his  judgments,  and  with  that  goes  pledge  of 
battle  and  declaration  of  war  with  his  Omnipo- 
tence. And  the  final  outcome  of  this  world's 
wisdom,  unbelief,  and  repudiation  of  the  rule  and 
government  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  assembly  of  all 
the  kings  and  armies,  and  captains  of  thousands, 
and  mighty  men,  and  men  of  all  ranks  and  classes, 
upon  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Palestine,  from  Idu- 
mea  to  Esdraelon,  equipped,  resolved,  eager,  and 
confident  of  success,  to  meet  the  Son  of  God  and 
his  army  in  hostile  collision,  to  decide  by  dreadful 
battle  whether  they  or  he  shall  have  the  sove- 
reignty in  the  earth.  Every  one  that  denies  Christ, 
is  on  the  way  to  defy  Christ,  and  to  take  up  arms 
for  the  Usurper  to  conquer  Christ.  Every  one 
who  refuses  to  be  baptized  into  Christ,  and  objects 
to  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Christ,  is  a  fit  subject 
for  the  branding  irons  and  infamous  mark  of  the 
Antichrist ;  and  when  that  is  once  impressed,  there 
is  no  more  recession  from  this  gathering  together 
to  fight  Christ,  and  to  be  dashed  to  destruction 
against  his  invincible  throne.  And  when  Hell's 
emissaries  come,  with  all  their  marvel  of  word  and 
deed  to  encourage  the  enemies  of  God  to  join, 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  255 

assemble,  strike,  and  have  the  world  forever  to 
themselves,  deluded  mortals  are  persuaded,  and 
march  their  armies  to  that  field  of  blood  from  which 
there  is  no  more  return.  "  The  heathen  rage,  and 
the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing.  The  kings  of 
the  earth  set  themselves,  and  the  rulers  take  coun- 
sel together  against  the  Lord,  and  against  his 
anointed,  saying,  Let  us  break  their  bands  asun- 
der, and  cast  away  their  cords  from  us."  (Ps.  2: 
1-3.)  Never  was  there  a  more  wicked  or  more 
disastrous  madness.  But  when  men  cut  loose  from 
the  bonds  of  obligation  to  their  Maker,  there  is  no 
limit  to  the  delusions  to  which  they  expose  them- 
selves, and  no  enormity  of  daring  or  wickedness 
into  which  they  are  not  liable  to  be  betrayed, 
thinking  it  the  true  wisdom.  And  thus  the  kings 
of  the  earth  and  their  armies  gather  toward  Jeru- 
salem, to  conquer  the  Son  of  God,  and  to  crush 
out  his  rule  and  Kingdom  for  ever.  What,  then, 
IS  the  result? 


lY. 


One  of  the  most  awful  expressions  in  the  Word 
of  God,  is  that  which  the  Psalmist  utters  with  re- 
gard to  these  enraged  and  deluded  kings,  and  this 
their  expedition,  where  he  says,  ''He  thai  siiieth  in 
the  heavens  shall  laugh :  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in 
derision."  (Ps.  2  :  4.)  That  laugh  of  God,  who  shall 
fathom  it !  How  shall  we  even  begin  to  tell  its 
dread  significance !  From  the  depths  of  his  eter- 
nal being,  he  so  loved  the  world,  as  to  give  his 
VOL.  III.  74 


256  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

co-eternal  and  only  begotten  Son  for  it.  Ko  gift  was 
too  precious  in  his  sight,  no  sacrifice  too  great,  to 
be  made  for  its  redemption.  For  six  thousand 
years  he  has  been  ordering  his  gracious  Provi- 
dence in  heaven  and  earth  for  its  recovery  from  sin 
and  death.  His  prophets  and  his  Son  have  labored, 
wept  and  died,  and  the  ministries  of  his  sublimest 
servants  have  been  unceasingly  employed,  to  bring 
it  to  salvation.  But  now  he  te^As.'  What  failure 
of  love,  what  exhaustion  of  grace,  what  emptying 
of  the  sea  of  his  infinite  mercies,  what  decay  and 
withdrawal  of  all  kindly  interest  and  afilection 
must  have  occurred  that  there  should  be  this 
laugh  !  The  demonstrations  of  these  confederates 
with  the  Beast  are  tremendous.  The  whole  world 
moves  with  one  heart,  one  aim,  with  all  its  genius 
and  power  concentrated  on  one  end,  and  with  all 
the  potencies  of  Hell  to  nerve  and  help  and  guide 
it.  ;N"ever  before  was  there  such  a  combination  of 
forces,  natural  and  supernatural,  directed  with 
such  skill,  or  animated  with  so  daring  and  resolved 
a  spirit.  Yet,  Jehovah  laughs  !  What  an  infini- 
tude of  majesty  and  sovereign  contempt  does  he 
thus  express?  The  rebels  are  confident.  They 
believe  their  leader  invincible.  They  are  sure  of 
powers  to  handle  all  nature's  forces.  They  have  no 
question  about  being  able  to  cope  with  mortals  or 
immortals,  with  men  or  gods.  They  despise  alike 
the  names  and  the  sword  of  Him  who  rides  the 
white  horse,  and  all  his  heavenly  cavalry.  They 
deem  themselves  ready  and  equal  for  any  emer- 
gency of  battle  even  with  him  who  calls  himself 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  257 

Almighty.  But  God  laughs!  Oh  the  disappoint- 
ment and  destruction  which  that  laugh  portends ! 
An  angel  stationed  in  the  sun  anticipates  the 
coming  result.  With  a  great  voice  he  cries  to  all 
the  birds  of  prey  that  fly  in  mid  heaven  to  come  to 
a  supper  on  the  flesh  of  kings,  captains,  mighty 
men,  horses  and  their  riders,  free  and  bond,  small 
and  great.  This  tells  already  an  awful  story.  It 
tells  of  the  greatest  of  men  made  food  for  the  vul- 
tures;— of  kings  and  leaders,  strong  and  confident, 
devoured  on  the  field,  with  no  one  to  bury  them  ; — 
of  those  who  thought  to  conquer  Heaven's  anointed 
King  rendered  helpless  even  against  the  timid 
birds  ; — of  vaunting  gods  of  nature  turned  into  its 
cast  ofi*and  most  dishonored  dregs.  And  what  is 
thus  foreintimated  soon  becomes  reality.  The 
Great  Conqueror  bows  the  heavens  and  comes 
down.  He  rides  upon  the  cherub  horse,  and  flies 
upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  Smoke  goes  up  from 
his  nostrils,  and  devouring  fire  out  of  his  mouth. 
He  moves  amid  storms  and  darkness,  from  which 
the  lightnings  hurl  their  bolts,  and  hailstones  min- 
gle with  the  fire.  He  roars  out  of  Zion,  and  utters 
his  voice  from  Jerusalem,  till  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  shake.  He  dashes  forth  in  the  fury  of  his 
incensed  greatness  amid  clouds,  and  fire,  and  pil- 
lars of  smoke.  The  sun  frowns.  The  day  is 
neither  light  nor  dark.  The  mountains  melt  and 
cleave  asunder  at  his  presence.  The  hills  bound 
from  their  seats  and  skip  like  lambs.  The  waters 
are  dislodged  from  their  channels.  The  sea  rolls 
back  with  howling  trepidation.     The  sky  is  rent 


258  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  folds  upon  itself  like  a  collapsed  tent.  It  is 
the  day  for  executing  an  armed  world, — a  world 
in  covenant  with  Hell  to  overthrow  the  authority 
and  throne  of  God, — and  everything  in  terrified 
!N"ature  joins  to  signalize  the  deserved  vengeance. 
So  the  Scriptures  everywhere  represent.  John 
saw  it,  but  does  not  describe  it.  He  only  tells  the 
result  he  beheld. 

4.710?  the  Beast  was  taken.  The  great  Judgment 
strikes  the  head  and  leader  first.  He  is  not  a 
system ;  or  he  would  not  fall  till  the  myriads  of 
his  supporters  fall.  He  is  a  person^  as  truly  as  his 
Captor  is  a  person.  He  is  distinct  from  his  armies, 
as  Christ  is  distinct  from  his ;  or  he  could  not  be 
taken  in  advance  of  his  armies.  He  is  the  living 
god  and  confidence  of  all  his  hosts,  and  all  this 
war  is  for  his  glory;  therefore  the  assault  is  first 
made  upon  him.  He  is  a  supernatural  being,  a 
man  resurrected  from  the  dead  by  the  Devil's 
power,  and  seemingly  incapable  of  corporeal 
death ;  for  he  is  not  slain.  No  sword  smites  him. 
He  does  not  die.  In  contradistinction  from  all 
save  his  companion,  the  False  Prophet,  it  is  speci- 
fically stated  that  he  is  simply  'Uaken^' — taken 
^'alive^'^  and  ''cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire.''  His 
worshippers  held  him  to  be  invincible.  They 
asked  in  the  utmost  confidence  and  triumph.  Who 
is  like  unto  the  Beast?  Who  can  war  with  him  ? 
But,  without  the  striking  of  a  blow,  and  with  all 
his  worshippers  in  arms  around  him,  he  is  "  taken,'' 
captured  as  a  lion  seizes  his  prey,  dragged  away 
from  the  field  as  a  helpless  prisoner.    With  all  his 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  259 

power,  greatness,  and  resurrection-vigor  and  im- 
munity from  death,  he  is  "  taken."  With  greater 
ease  than  the  Jewish  mob^took  the  unresisting 
Jesus,  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse  catches  him 
away  from  the  very  centre  of  his  hosts.  All  the 
resistance  he  makes  is  the  same  as  if  it  were  not. 
He  cannot  help  himself,  and  all  his  armies  cannot 
help  him.  He  must  go  whither  his  mighty  Cap- 
tor would  take  him.  Tophet  gets  its  own.  And 
into  the  lake  of  fire  he  sinks  to  rise  no  more. 

And  with  him  the  False  Prophet  who  wrought  the 
miracles  in  his  j^i^esence.  This  is  no  warrior;  but 
still  a  main  author  of  this  culminated  wickedness 
of  the  nations.  From  him,  together  with  the 
Dragon  and  the  first  Beast,  went  forth  the  miracle- 
working  spirits  who  wrought  this  terrible  decep- 
tion, and  stirred  up  the  world  to  this  war.  By 
his  instigations  were  these  armies  equipped  and 
gathered  to  the  dread  attempt  to  vanquish  the  Son 
of  God.  He  caused  men  to  adore  the  Beast,  and 
he  shares  the  Beast's  fate.  He  is  no  system,  no 
abstraction,  no  succession,  no  mere  ideal  figure, 
but  a  person.  He  is  not  slain;  he  does  not  die; 
he  seems  like  the  Antichrist  incapable  of  death. 
But  he  is  "taken,''  as  the  Beast  was  taken,  made 
a  captive,  and  hurried  away  to  the  same  seething 
prison.  All  his  miraculous  power  cannot  save 
him.  All  his  boasted  wisdom  cannot  help  him. 
All  the  armies  of  the  world  cannot  rescue  him 
from  the  grasp  of  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse. 

The  two  great  leaders  gone,  short  work  is  made 
with  their  followers.     A  few  awful  words  tell  the 


260  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

story.  They  are  mortals  all,  and  there  is  no  sal- 
vatiou  for  them.  In  terrible  brevity,  the  Seer 
records  what  came  to  pass.  "  And  the  rest  were  slain, 
with  the  sword  of  the  Sitter  on  the  horse,  which  sword 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth ;  and  the  fowls  were 
FILLED  FROM  THEIR  FLESH.''  Such  a  feast  of  death 
was,  perhaps,  never  before  seen. 

Long  ago  had  the  holy  prophets  sung  of  this 
Mighty  One,  and  this  his  triumph.  As  the  Psalm- 
ist foresaw,  his  arrows  are  sharp  in  the  heart  of 
the  King's  enemies,  whereby  the  people  fall  under 
him.  (Ps.  45  :  5.)  He  sends  out  his  arrows,  and 
scattereth  them ;  and  shoots  out  lightnings,  and 
discomfits  them.  (Ps.  18  :  14.)  He  marches  through 
the  land  in  indignation  ;  he  threshes  the  heathen 
in  anger.  (Ilab.  3  :  12.)  All  the  strength  of  the 
nations  is  dashed  to  fragments  before  him,  like 
pottery  struck  with  an  iron  rod.  (Ps.  2 :  9.)  The 
stone  from  the  eternal  mountain  falls  on  the  great 
statue  of  this  world's  power,  and  it  is  ground  to 
powder,  never  again  to  be  regathered.  (Dan.  2 : 
35;  Matt.  22:44^  The  victory  of  the  Sitter  on 
the  white  horse  is  complete ! 

And  He  shall  ride  or  shepherdize  them  with  an  iro7i 
rod.  With  many  a  severe  judgment  on  the  sur- 
vivors of  that  day,  the  Conqueror  now  assumes 
the  dominion.  With  their  heads  and  armies  de- 
stroyed in  the  winepress  of  the  wine  of  the  anger 
of  the  wrath  of  the  God  the  All-Ruler,  he  now 
sends  forth  the  new  law  from  Jerusalem.  After 
the  sword  of  destruction,  comes  the  rod  of  correc- 
tion and  reorganization.     The  world  now  gets  a 


LECTURE    XLIII.    CHAP.    19:11-21.  261 

new  Master,  a  King  whose  eternal  right  it  is  to 
reign,  and  whom  they  must  at  once  obey  or  die. 
The  shepherdizing  rod  of  iron,  is  the  administra- 
tion which  follows  up  the  battle,  gathers  the 
populations  of  the  earth  into  their  proper  flocks, 
assigns  them  their  laws  and  rulers,  and  allows  of 
no  more  disobedience. 

Thus  ends  this  present  world.  Thus  comes  in 
the  final  reigii  and  kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 
It  only  remains  to  tell  the  Devil's  fate,  and  then 
come  the  glorious  pictures  of  the  other  side  of  this 
"  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord." 

I  only  add,  that  our  contemplations  to-night  will 
fail  of  their  end,  if  they  do  not  serve  to  teach  us,' 
and  to  write  it  indellibly  upon  our  hearts,  that 
rebellion  against  God  is  death  ; — that  no  weapon 
formed  against  Jehovah  can  prosper ; — that  those 
who  will  not  have  Christ  to  rule  over  them  must 
perish!  Though  the  wicked  should  wield  the 
power  of  archangels,  they  cannot  withstand  the 
punitive  majesty  of  the  Warrior  Judge  and  King 
who  rides  upon  the  white  horse.  His  sword  is 
mightier  than  Satan,  mightier  than  the  Beast 
deemed  invincible,  mightier  than  the  command  of 
infernal  miracle  over  nature's  laws,  mightier  than 
all  the  forces  of  earth  and  hell  combined.  And 
that  sword  is  pledged  to  drink  the  life-blood  of  all 
who  neglect  his  mercy,  despise  his  laws,  and 
stand  out  against  his  authority.  All  may  seem 
well  and  promising  now.  People  may  indulge 
their  unbelief  and  passions  during  these  days  of 


262  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

forbearance  and  grace,  and  see  no  disadvantages 
growing  out  of  it.  They  may  get  angry  at  our 
earnestness,  and  account  us  croakers  and  fools 
when  we  put  before  them  the  demands  and  threat- 
enings  of  the  Almight3\  But  "  woe  to  him  that 
striveth  with  his  Maker  T'  There  is  a  deluge  of 
bottled  fury  yet  to  be  poured  out  on  them  that 
refuse  to  know  God,  and  on  the  families  that  call 
not  on  his  name,  from  which  there  is  no  escape, 
and  from  whose  burning  and  tempestuous  surges 
there  is  no  deliverance.  God  help  us  to  be  wise, 
that  we  come  not  into  that  sea  of  death ! 

Kighteous  Judge  of  retribution, 
Grant  thy  gift  of  absolution, 
Ere  that  day's  dread  execution  1 


LECTURE  FORTY-FOURTH. 

THE  BINDING  OF  SATAN— HIS  FOUR  NAMES— THE  ANGEL  WHO 
APPREHENDS  HIM— A  LITERAL  TRANSACTION— THE  ECON- 
OMY OF  THE  UNDERWORLD— THE  WORD  "HELL,"  SHEOL, 
HADES— CHRIST'S  DESCENT  INTO  HELL— HADES  NO  LONGER 
THE  ABODE  OF  DEPARTED  SAINTS— "  ABADDON,"  THE  ABYSS 
—TARTARUS— GEHENNA— THE  BEAST  AND  FALSE  PROPHET 
IN  GEHENNA-SATAN  IMPRISONED  IN  THE  ABYSS— OBJECT  OF 
HIS  IMPRISONMENT— SATAN  NOT  BOUND  AT  THE  COMMENCE- 
MENT OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ERA,  NOR  AT  THE  CONVERSION 
OF  CONSTANTINE,  IS  LOOSE  NOW. 


Rev.  20  :  1-3.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  an  angel  coming  down 
out  of  the  heaven,  having  the  key  of  the  abyss,  and  a  great  chain  in  [or 
resthtg  upon]  his  hand.  And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  the  old  ser- 
pent, which  is  the  devil,  and  satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand  years, 
and  cast  him  into  the  abyss,  and  locked  and  sealed  [it]  upon  him,  that 
he  should  not  lead  astray  the  nations  any  more  until  the  thousand 
years  be  accomplished  :   after  these  he  must  be  loosed  a  little  time. 

THE  issue  of  the  battle  of  the  Great  Day  goes 
beyond  the  disaster  to  those  found  in  arms 
against  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse.  There  is 
another  and  still  greater  power  back  of  those 
armies,  by  whose  instigation  this  war  was  under- 
taken, by  whose  influence  these  kings  and  mighty 
ones  with  their  troops  were  deceived  into  the  fatal 
idea  of  conquering  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 

(  263  ) 


264  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

lords,  and  by  whose  malignant  cunning  they  were 
marched  into  the  wine-press  of  the  wrath  of  God. 
The  judgment,  therefore,  proceeds  to  deal  with 
this  chief  culprit. 

He  is  called  by  four  names,  the  same  that  were 
given  him  in  chapter  12 :  9.  The  Sitter  on  the 
white  horse  also  had  four  names ;  and  as  in  his 
case,  so  here,  the  names  describe  the  being  who 
wears  them.  He  is  called  "  the  Dragon^  This  is  his 
designation  with  particular  reference  to  his  connec- 
tion with  earthly  sovereignties  and  his  administra- 
tions through  the  political  world-powers,  which,  up 
to  this  great  day,  are  continually  contemplated  in 
the  Scriptures  as  the  Dragon  powers.  But  when 
these  kings  and  their  armies  fall,  the  Dragon  power 
ceases.  Though  the  same  evil  spirit  comes  up 
again  after  the  thousand  years,  he  comes  with  only 
two  of  his  four  names,  and  not  as  "the  Dragon ;" 
for  he  never  again  gets  possession  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  earth.  Christ  and  his  saints  reign 
on  the  earth  from  this  time  forth  forever;  so  that 
whoever  those  may  be  whom  Satan  then  deceives 
and  brings  into  rebellion,  they  are  not  the  govern- 
ors, kings,  and  rulers  of  the  earth.  They  are 
from  its  distant  corners,  not  its  great  central  ad- 
ministrations. He  is  the  Dragon  now,  as  he  ever 
has  been  since  the  days  of  ^imrod,  and  as  he  ever 
will  be  till  the  confederated  kings  of  the  earth 
meet  their  final  fall  at  Harmageddon ;  and  he  is 
"  the  Dragon  "  with  particular  reference  to  the 
relation  which  he  holds  to  this  world's  political 
powers. 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20  ;  1  -  3.  265 

He  is  further  called  "  the  Old  Serpent ;''—'' old'' 
in  allusion  to  the  fact  that  he  has  been  in  existence 
since  the  beginning  of  human  history  ;  and  "  the 
SerpenV  in  allusion  to  his  subtlety,  his  crooked 
and  deceiving  ways,  his  subtle  poisons,  and  his 
deadly  malignity.  It  was  as  the  serpent  that  he 
beguiled  our  first  parents  and  seduced  them  into 
sin  and  death.  It  is  as  the  serpent  that  he  de- 
ceives souls,  insinuates  false  doctrine,  unbelief,  and 
presumption  into  the  human  heart,  corrupts  the 
purity  of  the  Church,  and  deludes  men  with  a  false 
and  perverted  wisdom.  It  refers,  particularly,  to 
his  subtle  temptations  of  the  good.  Since  the  days 
of  Adam's  innocence  in  Eden,  and  on  to  the  glori- 
ous Epiphany  of  his  great  Conqueror,  he  fulfils  this 
particular  designation ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
he  ever  comes  up  again  in  that  precise  capacity. 
The  good  are  thenceforward  beyond  the  power  of 
temptation,  and  the  deception  by  which  he  finally 
brings  Gog  and  Magog  against  the  citadel  of  the 
saints  does  not  seem  to  be  of  the  sort  which  he 
now  practices  as  "the  Old  Serpent."  He  is  still 
the  same  evil  spirit  as  to  his  individuality,  but  his 
particular  serpentine  manifestation  seems  to  cease 
with  the  present  order  of  things,  the  same  as  his 
Draconic  manifestation.  Only  as  *'  the  Devil  and 
Satan  "  does  he  reappear  at  the  end  of  the  thousand 
years. 

The  word  Devil  means  a  slanderer,  a  calumni- 
ator, a  malignant  liar ;  and  this  has  been  one  of 
this  evil  spirit's  chief  characteristics  from  the  be- 
ginning.    His  first  suggestions  to  Eve  were  full 


2(Jg  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  base  aspersions  cast  upon  God,  and  burdened 
with  all  manner  of  ruinous  falsehood.  Hence  the 
Saviour  says :  "  He  was  a  murderer  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  abode  not  in  the  truth ;  when  he 
speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own  ;  for  he  is  a 
liar,  and  the  father  of  it."  (Jno.  8  :  44.)  This  is 
his  essential  character,  the  same  everywhere  and 
always.  And  as  a  murderous  liar,  calumniator, 
slanderer,  and  author  of  malignant  untruth,  he 
comes  up  again  subsequent  to  the  thousand  years. 
The  lie  is  his  deepest  nature,  and  it  is  that  which 
makes  him  in  bad  pre-eminence  "  the  DeviU^ 

Satan  means  an  adversary,  an  accuser.  It  is  a 
Hebrew  word  simply  transferred.  It  is  mostly 
used  as  a  proper  name  of  some  great  spirit  of  evil. 
It  is  used  in  this  sense  about  forty  times  in  the 
Scriptures.  It  denotes  one  who  lies  in  wait  to 
entrap,  to  oppose,  to  disable,  to  bring  under  con- 
demnation or  into  disaster.  And  such  the  evil 
one  has  ever  shown  himself.  So  he  accused  and 
opposed  God  at  the  beginning.  So  he  accused 
Job  and  sought  to  destroy  his  peace.  So  he 
assailed  Christ,  questioning  his  divine  Sonshipand 
power,  if  not  proven  to  him  as  he  chose  to  dictate. 
And  so  he  is  the  adversary  of  all  the  children  of 
God,  and  still  stands  as  their  accuser  before  God, 
even  when  the  time  comes  for  their  birth  to 
immortal  glory.  In  this  character  he  also  reap- 
pears after  the  thousand  years,  stirs  up  enmity  to 
God's  holy  people,  and  instigates  an  attack  upon 
their  citadel. 

It  is  in  all  these  particular  aspects  that  this  great 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  267 

spirit  of  evil  was  concerned  in  bringing  about  this 
war  against  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse  and  his 
army.      It    was    first    and    principally    as    ''the 
Dragon,"  operating  with  and  through  the  polit- 
ical powers;    for  he  gave  the   Beast  his  power, 
throne,  and  great  authority,  and   sent  the  lying 
spirits  to  influence  the  kings  of  the  earth  in  this 
fatal  business.      It  was  next  as  "  the  Old  Serpent," 
beguiling,  deceiving,  and  leading  into  the  wicked- 
est unbelief  and  false  faith.     It  was  furthermore 
as  "  the  Devil,"  calumniating   and   blaspheming 
God  and  Christ,  all  true  worship,  and  all  rightful 
divine  authority.     And  it  was  finally  as  "  Satan," 
the  malignant  adversary  and  opponent  of  God  and 
all  good,  disputing  his  right  to  reign,  and  bent  on 
defeating  his  becoming  the   King  of  the   earth. 
And  as  this  great  spirit  was  thus  the  life  and  soul 
of  all  this  tremendous  rebellion  against  the  Son 
of  God,  the  anointed  All-Ruler,  it  was  impossible 
that  he  should  be  permitted  to  escape,  or  to  re- 
main at  liberty,  when  the  Warrior  King  and  Judge 
comes  forth  to  enforce  his  royal  rights. 

We  accordingly  read  of  an  Angel  from  heaven 
advancing  to  dispose  of  this  old,  malignant,  and 
subtle  Deceiver.  Who  this  Angel  is,  we  are  not 
told.  The  particulars  w^ould  seem  to  indicate,  as 
many  able  commentators  have  concluded,  that  he 
is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself.  It  was  Christ 
who,  in  the  first  vision,  claimed  to  have  "the 
Keys  of  Hades  and  of  Death,"  which  would  most 
naturally  seem  to  include  "  the  Key  of  the  Abyss," 
which  this  Angel  possesses.     The  w^hole  achieve- 


268  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ment  of  this  victory  is  also  so  emphatically  ascribed 
to  the  Saviour  himself,  that  it  would  seem  incon- 
gruous, if  not  conflicting,  to  make  the  arrest  of  the 
chief  of  all  this  dreadful  antagonism  the  work  of  a 
created  Angel.  The  mere  fact  of  the  angelic  ap- 
pearance argues  nothing  against  its  being  Christ 
himself,  for  we  have  seen  him  appearing  several 
times  already  in  the  character  of  an  Angel.  (Comp. 
chap.  10  : 1-7;  14  :  18, 19  ;  18  : 1.)  When  he  comes 
to  vanquish  and  destroy  armies,  it  is  fitting  that 
he  should  appear  as  a  mighty  Warrior;  but  when 
he  appears  for  the  seizure  and  binding  of  a  fallen 
angel,  it  is  equally  fitting  that  he  should  appear 
as  an  Angel.  His  appearances  continually  vary 
according  to  the  work  to  be  done,  and,  all  things 
considered,  we  would  most  naturally  expect  that 
this  particular  act  would  be  done  in  the  character 
of  an  Angel.  The  point  is  of  no  great  consequence 
either  way ;  for  it  is  still  the  act  of  Christ,  and  part 
of  his  victory,  whether  done  by  himself  or  by  a 
created  angel.  It  was  Michael  the  Archangel  who 
fought  Satan  in  the  battle  in  heaven  (chap.  12 :  7), 
but  that  was  rather  a  forensic  contest.  This  is  a  dif- 
ferent work,  the  grasping  of  the  Devil's  person,  the 
chaining  of  him,  and  the  casting  of  him  into  prison. 
This  Angel  possesses  the  Key  of  the  Abyss,  and 
carries  a  great  chain.  He  lays  hold  on  the  Dragon, 
the  Old  Serpent,  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan, 
'  binds  him  with  the  chain,  casts  him  into  the  Abyss, 
and  locks  and  seals  him  in,  that  he  may  no  more 
delude  the  nations  for  a  thousand  years. 

Is   this  a   literal  transaction  ?     Certainly  it  is 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20.1-3.  269 

The  battle  is  literal ;  the  taking  of  the  Beast  and 
the  False  Prophet  is  literal;  the  slaying  of  the 
kings  and  their  armies  is  literal ;  Satan  is  literal; 
and  his  binding  must  be  equally  literal.  It  will 
not  resolve  itself  into  anything  else,  and  fit  to  the 
connections  or  the  terms.  Some  have  asked, 
with  an  air  of  triumph,  How  can  a  chain  of  iron 
or  brass  bind  a  spirit,  and  that  spirit  an  archangel? 
But  the  record  does  not  say  that  it  is  a  chain  of 
iron,  or  brass,  or  steel,  or  any  other  material  of 
earthly  chains.  It  is  a  chain  of  divine  make,  as 
the  sword  that  proceeds  from  the  mouth  of  the  Son 
of  God.  It  is  a  spirit-chain,  as  the  horses  of  the 
celestial  army  are  spirit-horses.  It  is  a  chain  of  a 
character  that  can  bind  spirit  and  fetter  angels. 
Jude  tells  of  such  chains,  actually  holding  now 
(Jude  6),  and  which  not  even  the  angels  can  break. 
What  they  are  made  of,  and  how  they  serve  to  bind 
the  freedom  of  spiritual  natures,  it  is  not  for  us  to 
know  or  show ;  but  they  are  not  therefore  any  less 
real  and  literal  chains.  Figures,  tropes,  and  shadows 
cannot  bind  anybody,  unless  it  be  some  commen- 
tators, who  seem  to  be  hopelessly  entangled  in 
them.  The  Abyss  is  a  reality,  and  the  chain  is  also 
a  reality,  or  it  is  not  what  inspiration  says  it  is.  It 
is  called  "  a  great  chain  ; "  and  "  great "  it  must  be 
to  hold  and  confine  the  great  Red  Dragon.*  But 
it  is  adequate  to  its  purpose.  Heaven  makes  no 
miscalculations.  It  is  fastened  on  the  limbs  of  the 
old  monster.   He  cannot  resist  it,  nor  shake  it  ofi: 

*  See  vol.  ii,pp.  307-311. 


270  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Archangel  as  he  is,  he  is  compelled  to  submit, 
bound  as  a  helpless  prisoner,  and  violently  cast 
into  his  dungeon,  there  to  lie  in  his  fetters  for  a 
decade  of  centuries. 

21ie  'place  into  which  Satan  is  cast  is  called  i) 
aj3o(Tao^,  the  Abyss.  This  is  a  different  place  from 
that  into  which  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet 
are  cast.  They  w^ere  thrown  into  "  the  lake  of  fire 
which  burneth  with  brimstone."  The  Devil,  after 
the  thousand  years,  is  also  cast  into  that  same 
burning  lake  (chap.  19:10);  but  here  he  is  cast 
into  "  the  Abyss,''  whence  the  Beast  came  (chap. 
17  :  8),  and  also  the  terrible  plague  of  the  spirit- 
locusts  (chap.  9 : 1-3). 

The  question  thus  arises,  What  is  the  difference 
between  "the  Abyss"  and  "the  lake  of  fire?" 
I  might  answer  truly,  that  "the  lake  of  fire"  is 
the  final  Hell,  the  place  of  the  eternal  punishment 
of  the  damned;  whilst  "the  Abyss"  is  a  sort  of 
fore-hell,  a  prison  in  which  evil  spirits  are  de- 
tained prior  to  their  final  judgment.  The  relation 
between  the  two  is  much  like  that  of  the  county 
jail  in  which  accused  criminals  are  detained  prior 
to  their  sentence,  and  the  state  penitentiary  to 
which  they  are  assigned  for  final  punishment. 
But,  as  the  question  calls  up  the  whole  economy 
of  the  underworld,  about  which  the  Scriptures  tell 
us  more  than  is  generally  suspected  or  understood, 
it  may  be  proper  and  desirable  to  look  a  little 
deeper  into  the  matter. 

In  general,  people  have  very  dim,  confused  and 
inadequate  ideas  with  regard  to  the  whole  unseen 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  271 

world.  This  is  owing  in  part  to  the  reserve  of  the 
Scriptures  on  the  subject,  but  more  particularly  to 
the  obscuration  of  what  is  revealed  by  the  faulty 
rnauuer  in  which  our  English  translators,  though 
generally  so  correct,  have  dealt  with  the  words 
and  phrases  of  the  sacred  writers  referring  to  this 
particular  subject,  begetting  erroneous  impres- 
sions, which  reappear  in  our  theological  systems. 
Thus  the  word  Hell,  which  in  the  Saxon  vocabu- 
lary means  simply  the  covered  or  unseen  place,  is 
used  as  the  equivalent  of  words  of  very  different 
signification,  whilst  those  for  which  it  is  properly 
the  equivalent  are  frequently  rendered  by  other 
words  which  carry  the  mind  quite  aside  from  the 
real  meaning.  And  so  again,  in  popular  language, 
the  word  Hell  is  carried  away  from  its  etymological 
signification,  and  made  to  stand  for  the  place  of 
final  punishment,  with  which  all  other  terms  refer- 
ring to  the  hidden  abodes  of  wicked  spirits  are 
again  confounded,  whilst  some  of  the  original 
terms  for  which  it  is  made  to  stand  do  not  refer 
to  the  place  of  final  punishment  at  all.  The  whole 
matter  has  thus  become  most  sadly  confused,  in- 
volving in  that  confusion  the  article  of  the  Creed 
respecting  Christ's  descent  into  Hell,  and  urgently 
needing  to  be  unravelled  and  set  right  according 
to  the  true  ideas  of  Kevelation  and  of  the  early 
Church. 

There   is   a  word  used  sixty-five  times  in  the 

original  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  our 

English  translators  in  thirty-one  instances  render 

Hell,  in  thirty-one  instances  Grave,  and  in  three 

VOL.  III.  75 


272  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

instances  the  jnt.  That  word  is  Sheol^  uniformly 
rendered  Hades  in  the  Greek  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  wherever  the  JS'ew  Testament  quotes  the  pas- 
sages in  which  it  occurs.  By  common  consent  the 
Greek  word  Hades  is  the  exact  equivalent  of  the 
Hebrew  Sheol.  It  occurs  eleven  times  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  always  in  the  same  sense  as  the 
Old  Testament  Sheol.  To  all  intents  and  purposes, 
therefore,  Sheol  and  Hades  denote  one  and  the 
same  thing.  But  Sheol  or  Hades  is  never  used  to 
denote  the  Hell  of  final  punishment.  Neither  is  it 
*  ever  used  to  denote  the  mere  receptacle  of  the  body 
after  death,  the  grave.  Nor  yet  is  it  ever  used  to 
denote  the  mere  state  of  being  dead  as  to  the  body; 
and  still  less  to  denote  the  pit  or  Abyss  as  such.  A 
careful  inventory  of  all  the  passages  conclusively 
proves  that  Sheol  or  Hades  is  the  name  of  a  place 
in  the  unseen  world,  altogether  distinct  from  the 
Hell  of  final  punishment  or  the  Heaven  of  final 
glory.  Its  true  and  only  meaning  is,  *'  the  place  of 
departed  spirits,'^ — the  receptacle  of  souls  which 
have  left  the  body.*     To  this  place  all  departed 


*  "Translating  the  word  Hades,  according  to  its  etymology 
and  its  use  among  the  Greeks,  it  is  rendered  an  invisible  place, 
which  was  all  that  Homer  intended  when  he  said  the  souls  of 
his  brave  heroes  were  hurried,  by  the  Trojan  war,  into  Hades, 
where  he  exhibits  them  celebrating  the  Elysian  games.  The 
fathers,  therefore,  condemn  the  language  of  our  translation  (of 
the  New  Testament),  and  in  the  article  of  what  is  called  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  which  says  Christ  descended  into  Hell,  mis- 
leading the  vulgar  by  an  English  word,  which  7iow  conveys  an 
idea  not  contained  in  the  original.  This  is  so  well  known  as  to 
rec[uire  no  argument ;  but  so  little  regarded  as  to  demand  re- 


LECTURE   XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  273 

spirits,  good  and  bad,  up  to  the  time  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  went.  In  it  there  was  a  depart- 
ment for  the  good,  called  Paradise  by  the  Saviour 
on  the  cross,  and  another  department  for  the  bad. 
Thus  both  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  went  to 
Hades  when  they  died ;  for  the  word  is,  "  in  Hades 
he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  seeth  Abraham  afar  off 
and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom."  Lazarus  was  then  in 
Hades  too,  as  well  as  Abraham ;  and  the  only  dif- 
ference between  them  and  Dives  was,  that  the  good 
were  separated  from  the  bad  by  an  iifipassable  gulf, 
and  that  Lazarus  was  comforted  and  Dives  tor- 
mented.* So  the  dying  Saviour  told  the  penitent 
malefactor  that  they  would  yet  that  day  be  together 
in  Paradise  ;  that  is,  in  the  more  favorable  part  of 
Hades.  There  they  were  neither  in  Heaven  proper, 
nor  in  Hell  proper;  but  simply  in  Hades.  To  this 
Hades  all  departed  spirits  went,  the  good  witb  the 
good,  and  the  bad  with  the  bad.  There  was  com- 
fort there  for  the  pious,  and  privation  and  torment 
for  the  wicked ;  and  they  of  the  one  part  could 


peated  ^roiQ^V'— Bennett's  Theology  of  the  Early  Christian 
Church,  pp.  323,  324. 

•'  I  cannot  give  a  better  periphrasis  of  it  (the  word  Hades) 
than  by  translating  it,  that  invisible  place  where  the  souls  that 
leave  their  bodies  live,  whether  it  be  a  place  of  bliss  or  torment. 
In  this  sense  it  is  taken  in  Scripture,  the  Apocrj-pha,  Fathers, 
yea,  and  in  heathenish  authors  too.  And  as  for  the  Latin  inferi, 
it  is  often  taken  in  the  same  sense,  and  mostly  used  to  express 
Hades.''— Beveridge  on  the  XXXIX  Arts.,  pp.  115,  116. 

*  "  Lazarus  in  Hades  obtained  comfort  in  Abraham's  bosom  ; 
the  rich  man,  on  the  other  hand,  the  torment  of  flame."— T'er- 
tullian,  De  Idol.  13. 


274  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

not  pass  over  to  the  other  part ;  but  still  they  could 
see  and  converse  with  each  other,  and  none  of 
them  were  yet  in  their  final  happiness  or  misery. 
Even  at  the  best,  it  was  not  a  place  to  be  coveted. 
With  all  the  blessed  release  which  it  brought  to 
pious  sufferers,  and  the  good  promise  it  bespoke  of 
something  better  for  them  at  the  resurrection,  the 
Scriptures  everywhere  describe  it  as  a  sombre 
world, — a  place  of  detention  and  waiting  even  for 
the  best.  There  is  nothing  ever  said  about  going 
up  to  it,  or  of  full  compensation  there  for  works 
of  piety  and  deeds  of  love.  The  ancient  saints 
drew  satisfaction  from  the  thought  of  being  gath- 
ered to  their  fathers,  and  of  resting  there  with  the 
holy  dead;  but^iever  as  enjoying  there  the  bright 
presence  of  God  and  the  society  of  angels.  All 
the  higher  and  better  recompenses  to  which  they 
looked,  they  invariably  connected  with  the  resur- 
rection, and  located  quite  beyond  the  Hadean 
world.  It  was  to  the  Paradise  side  of  this  Hades 
that  the  Saviour  and  the  penitent  thief  went 
when  they  died,  as  all  the  pious  dead  up  to  that 
time. 

But  this  going  of  Christ  into  the  place  of  de- 
parted spirits  with  the  penitent  thief  was  not  the 
descent  into  Hades  of  which  the  Creed  speaks. 
By  virtue  of  having  died,  Christ  thus  became  an 
inmate  of  Hades,  just  as  all  other  good  men  who 
had  died  before  him;  whilst  the  descent  into 
Hades,  of  which  the  Creed  speaks,  was  part  of  his 
active  redemption  work,  and  the  beginning  of  his 
exaltation    as    the   successful    Redeemer,   which 


LECTURE    XL IV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  275 

wrought  a  great  change  in  Hades  itself,  and  in  the 
whole  condition  of  the  pious  dead  from  that  time 
on.  His  dead  body  having  been  requickened  and 
glorified  by  his  divine  power,  recalling  his  de- 
parted soul  to  it,  even  before  he  reappeared  on 
earth,  he  went  to  Hades,  not  as  a  subject  of 
death,  but  as  the  Conqueror  of  death,  heralding  his 
victory  to  the  spirits  therein  detained  (1  Pet.  3  :  18, 
19),  and  actually  bringing  out  with  him  all  faith- 
ful souls,  even  resurrecting  many  of  them.  (Matt. 
27  :  52,  53;  Ps.  68  :  18.)  It  is  with  special  reference 
to  this,  that  he  announced  himself  to  John,  in  the 
first  vision,  as  having  "the  Keys  of  Death  and  of 
Hades."  Paradise  now  is  no  longer  in  Hades,  but 
above,  in  the  heavens,  where  its  inmates  enjoy  a 
f^r  more  blessed  portion  than  was  ever  enjoyed  in 
Hades.  Christ  "led  captivity  captive"  when  he 
made  his  triumphant  descent  into  Hades  of  which 
the  Creed  speaks,  and  no  true  believer  now  ever 
goes  to  Hades.  Christ  said  of  his  Church,  that  the 
gates  of  Hades  should  never  prevail  against  it ;  that 
is,  it  should  never  close  on  any  true  members  of  his 
Church.  Paul,  in  triumphant  exultation  over  the 
portion  of  believers  now,  exclaims:  "O  Death, 
where  is  thy  sting?  0  Hades,  where  is  thy  vic- 
tory?'' 

The  "grave"  holds  the  victory  now  just  as  it 
ever  has  done,  but  Hades  does  not;  and  the  vic- 
tory of  which  the  Apostle  speaks  and  gives  thanks 
is  a  victory  over  Hades,  not  over  the  "-grave"'  as 
our  translators  have  put  it.  Hence  our  Confession 
says,  "  Christ  descended  into  Hades.,  and  abolished 


276  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

it  for  all  believers.'"    {Formula  of  Goyi.y    Hades  now 
is,  therefore,  the  receptacle  of  only  such  departed 


*  Speaking  of  the  several  opinions  concerning  the  descent  of 
Christ  into  Hades,  and  the  efficacy  of  it,  Bishop  Pearson  makes 
this  observation  :  "  Of  those  who  did  believe  the  name  oi  Hades 
to  belong  to  that  general  place  which  comprehended  all  the  souls 
of  men,  as  well  those  who  died  in  the  favor  of  God  as  those  who 
departed  in  their  sins,  some  of  them  thought  that  Christ  de- 
scended to  that  place  of  Hades^  where  the  souls  of  all  the  faithful, 
from  the  death  of  the  righteous  Abel  to  the  death  of  Christ,  were 
detained  ;  and  there  dissolving  all  the  power  by  which  they 
were  detained  below,  translated  them  into  a  far  more  glorious 
place,  and  estated  them  in  a  condition  far  more  happy  in  the 
heavens  above."  Pearson  did  not  himself  accept  this  view, 
which  is  so  evidently  that  of  the  Scriptures,  still  he  adds  this  testi- 
mony concerning  it :  "  This  is  the  opinion  generally  received  in 
the  schools,  and  delivered  as  the  sense  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
all  ages;  but  though  it  were  not  so  general  as  the  schoolmen 
would  persuade  us,  yet  it  is  certain  that  many  of  the  fathers  did 
so  understand  it."  He  then  quotes  Eusebius,  Cyril,  Ambrose, 
and  Jerome  in  evidence  of  this  fact. 

The  same  author  quotes  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Tertullian, 
Hillary,  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  others,  as  holding  and  teach- 
ing that  the  souls  of  believers  do  not  enter  heaven  immediately 
upon  their  death,  but  go  into  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  into  Para- 
dise, where  the  patriarchs  and  prophets  are,  where  they  all  re- 
main till  the  time  of  the  resurrection,  when  first  they  get  their 
crowns,  and  enter  upon  the  fulness  of  their  blessedness.  But  the 
place  where  departed  saints  now  are,  or  go  at  their  death,  is 
plainly  no  longer  in  Hades ;  for  when  Paul  in  vision  was  taken 
to  behold  that  place,  the  action  or  motion  which  took  him  to  it 
from  the  earth  is  described  as  an  ascent, — "  he  was  caught  up  to 
Paradise"  (2  Cor.  12  :  4), — whereas  the  action  or  motion  describ- 
ing the  entrance  into  Hades,  even  for  the  saints,  is  everywhere 
represented  as  a  descent.  Not  only  is  it  declared  that  Korah  and 
his  company  "  went  down  alive  into  Hades,"  or  Sheol,  but  Jacob 
said,  "  I  will  go  down  into  Hades  unto  my  son."  (Gen.  37  :  35.) 
So  also  Samuel,  after  his  death,  and  in  his  rest,  said,  "Why 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  277 

spirits  as  have  no  share  in  Christ's  redemption, — a 
mere  prison  of  bad  and  unbelieving  souls,  who  there 
pine  over  their  crimes,  awaiting  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, when  all  in  Hades,  and  Hades  itself,  shall  be 
cast  into  the  Hell  of  final  punishment  (chap. 
20  ;  14).  Sheol  or  Hades  then  is  not  Hell,  except 
in  the  old  and  now  obsolete  sense  of  the  covered 
'place,  the  hidden  temporary  receptacle  of  departed 
spirits,  into  which  all  departed  souls  formerly  went 
at  death,  but  since  Christ's  resurrection  only  the 
bad  and  unbelieving  go.* 

The  Old  Testament  speaks  of  another  place 
in  the  underworld,  called  in  Hebrew  Abaddon 
(Greek  Apoleia),  which  our  English  Bible  renders 
destruction.  Thus  we  read  "  Hades  is  naked  before 
him,  and  Abaddon  hath  no  covering.^'  (Job  26  :  6.) 
"  Abaddon  and  death  say.  We  have  heard  the  fame 

hast  thou  disquieted  me  to  bring  me  up  ?  "  (I  Sam.  28  :  15.)  And 
so  of  Jesus,  when  he  went  to  that  place,  it  is  said  he  ^^  descended 
into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth."  (Eph,  4:9.)  Paradise  then 
was  below  in  Hades  ;  now,  since  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  it  is 
above,  in  the  heavenly  regions,  and  no  longer  in  Hades.  Thus 
Basil,  Cyprian,  and  Ambrose  speak  of  Paradise  now  as  a  place 
of  rest  m  heaven^  in  which  the  pious  are,  but  still  not  in  heaven, 
in  the  same  way  as  they  shall  be  after  the  resurrection. 

*  From  these  representations  of  the  economy  of  the  under- 
world, which  are  the  result  of  a  more  matured  study  of  the  whole 
subject,  some  obvious  modifications  are  required  to  the  state- 
ments made  in  Vol.  I,  page  99,  which  were  written  some  fourteen 
years  prior  to  the  writing  of  this  Lecture.  I  then  believed  that 
all  departed  souls  went  to  Hades,  whereas,  it  is  now  plain  to  me 
that,  since  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  none  of  the  souls  of  the 
saints  ever  go  there,  as  they  did  previously.  "When  a  man  has 
learned  better,  it  is  due  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  correct 
himself. 


278 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


thereof.''  (Job  28  :  22.)  ''  It  is  a  fire  that  consumeth 
to  Abaddon:'  (Job  31: 12.)  "  Shall  thy  loving  kind- 
ness be  declared  in  the  grave,  or  thy  faithfulness 
in  Abaddon  f  (Ps.  88  :  12.)  "  Hades  and  Abaddon 
are  ever  before  the  Lord."  (Prov.  15  :  11.)  "Hades 
and  Abaddon  are  never  full."  (Prov.  27  :  20.) 
Abaddon  thus  connects  with  Sheol  or  Hades,  but 
is  a  deeper,  darker,  and  a  more  wretched  place. 
"  The  pit  of  the  Abyss,"  referred  to  in  chapter 
9  :  1-3,  and  from  which  came  the  plague  of  spirit- 
locusts,  seems  to  identify  with  this  Hebrew  Abad- 
don ;  for  the  Angel  of  this  pit,  and  the  King  over 
these  locusts,  has  a  name  "  which  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  is  Abaddon,  but  in  the  Greek  tongue  hath 
his  name  Apellyon."  I^ine  times  do  we  read  of 
this  Abyss  in  the  !N"ew  Testament.  The  demons, 
whom  Christ  cast  out  of  the  wretched  man  of 
Gadara,  besought  the  Saviour  not  to  command 
them  into  the  Abyss.  (Luke  8  :  26-3L)  Paul  says  that 
our  faith  needs  not  to  inquire  '^Who  shall  descend 
into  the  Abyss,  that  is,  to  bring  Christ  up  again 
from  among  the  dead"  (Rom.  10  :  7),  as  if  he  were 
only  one  of  the  more  powerful  of  these  demons. 
Thus  also  the  great  Beast,  the  Antichrist,  cometh 
uip  out  of  the  Abyss  {^ev.  11:7;  17:8).  Abaddon 
and  the  Abyss  would  therefore  seem  to  be  the  abode 
of  demons,  a  sort  of  deeper  pit  beneath  Hades,  where 
the  wickeder  and  baser  spirits  of  dead  men,  and 
other  foul  spirits  of  the  lower  orders,  are  for  the 
most  part  held  as  melancholy  prisoners  till  the 
day  of  final  judgment.  It  is  a  place  intermediate 
between  Hades  and  the  final  Hell,  as  Paradise  is 


LECTURE  XLIV.  CHAP.  20:1-3.      279 

now  a  sort  of  intermediate  place  between  Hades 
and  the  final  Heaven.  It  is  a  remove  below  Hades, 
as  Paradise  is  now  a  remove  above  Hades. 

It  does  not  appear  that  fallen  angels  now  have 
their  place  in  Hades.  The  Lucifer  of  whom  Isaiah 
(14:  15)  speaks  as  having  been  "brought  down  to 
Hades''  is  explained  (verse  4)  to  be  the  king  of 
Babylon,  and  so  a  bad  man,  and  not  an  angeL 
Fallen  angels  are  never  said  to  be  in  Hades.  The 
place  of  their  present  detention  is  described  by 
quite  another  name.  Thus  Peter  tells  us  that 
"  God  spared  not  the  angels  that  sinned,  but  cast 
them  down  to  Tartarus,  and  delivered  them  into 
chains  of  darkness  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment." 
(2  Pet.  2  :  4.)  Our  translators  also  call  Tartarus 
Hell,  as  if  Tartarus,  Hades,  the  Abyss,  and  the 
final  lake  of  fire  were  all  one  and  the  same  thing* 
The  truth  is,  that  they  are  each  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate, though  all  departments  of  the  underworld. 

The  burning  lake  is  the  only  true  Apoleia,  per- 
dition, destruction,  second  death,  or  the  final  Hell. 
It  too  has  its  own  proper  name.  It  is  called  Tophet 
in  the  Old  Testament.  (Is.  30 :  33  ;  Jer.  7 :  31,  32.) 
In  theNewitis  twelve  times  called  Gehenna,  which, 
in  the  Greek,  is  the  same  as  Tophet  in  Hebrew. 
From  denoting  a  place  of  horrible  burning  on 
earth,  it  came  to  be  used  to  denote  the  place  of 
final  punishment.  Our  translators  have  uniformly 
translated  Gehenna  by  the  word  Hell.  But  Ge- 
henna is  altogether  a  difierent  Hell  from  Sheol, 
Hades,  the  Abyss,  or  Tartarus.  Thus  the  Saviou'' 
says,   that    whosoever    indulges    malignant    and 


230  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

devilish  spite  towards  his  brother  "shall  be  in 
danger  of  Gehenna  iire'*'  (Matt.  5:22);  that  it  is 
much  better  to  sacrifice  a  right  eye  or  a  right  hand 
in  this  world  than  that  "  the  whole  body  should 
be  cast  into  Gehenna''  (Matt.  5 :  29,  30);  that  we  are 
not  to  fear  tliern  which  kill  the  body,  but  rather  to 
fear  him  "  who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and 
body  in  Gehenna''  (Matt.  10  :  28);  and  that  "it  is 
better  to  enter  into  life  with  one  eye,  than  having 
two  eyes  to  be  cast  into  Gehenna  fire''  (Matt.  18  :  9). 
Thus  also  he  denounces  the  hypocritical  Pharisees 
as  the  candidates  for  "  the  greater  damnation,"  the 
"children  of  Gehenna''  (Matt.  28  :  14, 15),  and  asks 
them,  "  How  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of 
Gehenna?"  (Matt.  23:33).  This  Tophet  or  Ge- 
henna, as  will  be  seen  at  once,  is  something  dif- 
ferent from  Hades,  Tartarus,  or  the  Abyss.  It  is 
manifestly  the  same  which  John  here  calls  "  the  lake 
of  fire  which  burneth  with  brimstone,"  and  into  w^hich 
the  Beast,  the  False  Prophet,  Satan,  Death,  Hades, 
and  whosoever  is  not  found  w^ritten  in  the  book 
of  life,  are  finally  cast,  and  swallowed  up  forever; 
that  is,  it  is  the  ultimate  Hell  of  full  punishment. 

Into  this  final  Hell  no  one  has  ever  yet  entered. 
It  is  "  prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  angels;"  but 
none  of  them  is  there  now.  The  first  persons  that 
ever  go  into  this  place  are  the  Beast  and  the  False 
Prophet,  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  the  great  day 
of  God  Almighty  (chap.  19:20).  The  next  to 
get  into  it  is  Satan  himself,  more  than  a  thousand 
years  afterwards  (chap.  20 :  10),  where  the  Beast 
and  the  False  Prophet  are  represented  as  still  alive 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  281 

and  suffering  at  the  time  when  he  is  cast  in  with 
them.  And  then  follows  the  casting  in  of  all  the 
wicked,  along  with  Death  and  Hades  (chap.  20 : 
14,  15). 

It  is  not  a  little  surprising  that  things  should 
come  out  so  clearly  from  the  original  Scriptures,  and 
that  there  should  be  such  confusion  on  the  subject 
in  the  popular  mind,  and  even  in  our  theologies. 
But  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  thus  briefly  indi- 
cated, any  one  can  readily  see  the  consistency  and 
propriety  of  all  these  terms  and  references  touch- 
ing the  underworld,  and  what  is  meant  by  the 
different  places  from  which  or  to  which  these  in- 
fernal actors  either  come  or  go.  The  Beast  is 
from  the  Abyss,  the  under-pit  of  Hades,  as  twice 
distinctly  stated.  The  False  Prophet,  his  com- 
panion and  prime  minister,  is  doubtless  from  the 
same  place.  Under  the  fifth  Trumpet,  "the  Key 
of  the  Abyss''  was  given  to  the  fallen  star,  which 
is  none  other  than  Satan,  and  he  unlocks  the 
Abyss  for  the  bringing  up  of  the  spirit-locusts, 
and  then  for  the  bringing  forth  in  Satanic  resur- 
rection from  thence  these  two  great  instruments 
of  his  malice  and  deception,  the  Beast  and  the 
False  Prophet.  It  is  not  in  the  DeviPs  power 
thus  to  resurrect  any  one  from  the  Abyss  now; 
but  in  the  ongoing  of  the  judgment,  and  for 
the  greater  punishment  of  the  unbelieving,  the 
power  is  given  him  to  do  it,  and  he  does  it.  He 
is  allowed  to  have  "  the  Key,"  and  he  uses  it,  un- 
locks the  Abyss,  and  brings  forth  again  into  the 
activities  of  life  the  two  ablest  of  his  particular 


282  TB.E    APOCALYPSE. 

servants.  They  go  through  with  their  blasphe- 
mous and  dreadful  work  in  judgment  upon  the 
world  for  its  unbelief.  And  when  the  end  comes, 
they  are  at  once  cast  into  the  final  Hell,  the  very 
first  that  ever  try  those  awful  fires,  which  they  so 
richly  deserve.  The  kings  and  armies  whom  they 
deceive  into  this  presumptuous  war  are  mortal 
men,  who  are  simply  "  slain," — killed, — and  so 
turned  into  Hades,  there,  with  the  wicked  dead, 
to  await  the  judgment  at  the  end  of  the  thousand 
years,  when  they  all  shall  be  brought  forth  to- 
gether, and  assigned  their  place  in  the  same  final 
Hell  of  the  burning  lake.  The  old  Serpent,  the 
Devil,  who  has  been  at  the  back  of  it  all,  is  arrested 
and  imprisoned.  But  there  is  still  a  reason  in  the 
divine  purposes  why  he  should  not  yet  be  finally 
disposed  of;  therefore  he  is  not  yet  cast  into  the 
burning  lake  of  ultimate  perdition.  Nevertheless, 
he  is  chained  as  to  his  power,  and  locked  and 
sealed  up  as  to  his  place,  in  that  under-pit  of 
Hades,  where  only  the  foulest  and  basest  of  spirits 
are, — in  the  Abyss  whence  he  brought  up  the  two 
Beasts  and  their  demon  helpers, — there  to  writhe 
in  his  helplessness  till  the  thousand  years  are 
fulfilled. 

The  particular  object  of  this  binding  and  im- 
prisonment of  Satan  is  not  so  much  for  his  due 
punishment,  as  for  the  temporary  restraint  and 
prevention  of  his  deceptions  of  men.  It  is  specially 
stated  to  be,  'Hhai  he  should  not  lead  astray  the  na- 
tions any  more  until  the  thousand  years  be  accomplished,'' 
Ruinous  deception  is  the  Devil's  trade,  and  all 


LECTURE    XLIV.     CHAP.   20:1-3.  283 

false  ones  and  deceivers  are  bis  apprentices  and 
children.  The  truth  is  ever  against  him;  there- 
fore falsehood  is  his  particular  recourse  and  instru- 
ment. But  naked  falsehood  is  only  repulsive. 
What  we  know  to  be  a  lie  cannot  command  our 
respect.  "  In  vain  is  the  net  spread  in  the  sight 
of  any  bird."  There  is  in  the  very  framework  of 
the  soul  an  impossibility  of  feeling  toward  known 
falsehood  the  same  as  if  it  were  truth.  The  struc- 
ture of  our  being  revolts  against  it.  Untruth  can 
only  gain  credence  and  acceptance  by  being  so 
disguised  as  to  appear  to  be  the  truth.  Falsehood 
can  have  no  power  over  us  until  we  are  led  to  be- 
lieve and  conclude  that  it  is  the  truth.  And  this 
deluding  of  men,  getting  them  to  accept  and  follow 
lies  and  false  hopes,  under  the  persuasion  that 
they  are  accepting  and  following  truth,  is  the  great 
work  and  business  of  Satan  in  every  age.  From 
this  work  and  business  he  never  rests  so  long  as 
he  has  the  liberty  to  act.  In  this  work  and  busi- 
ness he  has  been  engaged  from  the  beginning. 
And  in  this  work  and  business  he  is  engaged 
now;  for  his  binding  and  imprisonment  do  not 
occur  until  after  "the  Battle  of  the  great  Day 
of  God  Almighty,"  and  that  battle  has  not  yet 
come  off. 

Some  assume  and  teach  that  this  binding  and 
imprisonment  of  Satan  occurred  at  the  opening  of 
the  Christian  dispensation,  and  point  to  the  mira- 
cles wrought  by  the  Apostles  and  early  Christians, 
the  silencing  of  the  Pagan  oracles,  and  the  on- 
ward march  of  the  Church  to  political  victory  over 


284 


THE   APOCALYPSE. 


Paganism,  as  the  evidence  of  it.  But  then  the 
inspired  Peter  was  all  wrong;  for  he  sent  out  a 
general  Epistle  to  all  Christians,  in  w^hich  he 
wrote:  "Your  adversary  the  Devil,  as  a  roaring 
lion,  walkeih  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour." 
(1  Pet.  5  :  8.) 

Others  assume  and  teach  that  this  binding  and 
imprisonment  of  Satan  occurred  at  the  conversion 
of  Constantine  and  the  consequent  triumph  of 
Christianity  over  Pagan  Eome.  But  that  event 
was  followed  by  a  millennium  of  corruption  and 
apostasy  for  the  Church,  and  of  darkness  and  bar- 
barism for  the  world,  far  worse  than  had  occurred 
during  the  thousand  years  before ;  whilst  the  ter- 
mination of  the  thousand  years  after  Constantine 
brought  a  period  the  brightest  in  evangelic  purity 
and  activity,  and  the  most  triumphant  for  truth  and 
constitutional  liberty,  that  has  ever  been  since 
Constantine  occupied  the  imperial  throne. 

Still  others  assume  and  teach  that,  to  whatever 
date  we  are  to  refer  this  binding  and  imprisonment 
of  Satan,  he  is  bound  now,  because  imperialism  in 
government  has  been  wellnigh  banished  from  the 
earth,  and  hierarchism  in  the  Church  is  quite  dis- 
abled from  its  old  dominion,  and  general  intelli- 
gence and  freedom  are  becoming  the  common 
possession  of  the  race.  I  wonder  that  there  should 
be  sane  men  who  can  come  to  such  a  conclusion. 
If  ever  there  was  a  time  when  the  Devil  was  loose, 
active  and  potent  in  human  aftairs,  thai  time  is  now\^ 
in  the  days  in  which  we  live.  The  Devil's  domin- 
ion is  the  enthronement  of  error,  falsehood,  decep- 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  285 

tion,  lies,  and  moral  rottenness ;  and  when  was 
this  dominion  evermore  patent  than  in  these  years 
of  the  existing  generation  ?  The  Devil  bound  ! 
And  yet  the  people  who  claim  to  be  the  most 
enlightened,  and  occupy  the  very  top  waves  of 
modern  progress,  do  not  hesitate  to  give  out  that 
it  is  with  them  a  matter  of  serious  doubt  whether 
there  is  a  God,  a  Providence,  a  soul  to  live  after 
this  life,  anything  eternal  but  matter,  any  Lord  but 
ITature,  any  retribution  but  what  natural  laws 
administer  in  this  world,  any  principles  of  moral- 
ity but  expediency,  and  scout  all  idea  of  a  personal 
incarnation  of  Deity,  of  atonement  by  divine  sacri- 
fice, of  justification  by  faith  in  the  merits  of  a  substi- 
tute, of  any  coming  again  of  Christ  as  King  to  judge 
the  world  and  reign  in  righteousness.  We  look 
abroad  upon  society  in  general,and  whatdo  we  see? 
Reverence,  that  great  balance-wheel  in  the  econo- 
mies of  life,  scarcely  exists  anymore;  oaths  are  noth- 
ing ;  good  faith  is  scarce  as  grapes  after  the  vintage; 
and  all  moral  bonds  are  trampled  down  without 
compunction  under  the  heels  of  greed,  and  lust,  and 
deified  selfishness.  Falsities  and  treacheries  con- 
front us  unblushingly  at  every  point.  People  not 
only  make  falsehoods,  speak  falsehoods,  print  false- 
hoods, and  believe  falsehoods  ;  but  they  eat  them, 
and  drink  them,  and  wear  them,  and  act  them, 
and  live  them,  and  make  them  one  of  the  great 
elements  of  their  being.  One-half,  at  least,  of  all 
that  the  eye  can  see,  or  the  ear  hear,  or  the  hands 
touch,  or  the  tongue  taste,  is  bogus,  counterfeit, 
pinchbeck,  shoddy,  or  some  hash  or  other  of  un- 


286  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

truth.  A  mail  cannot  move,  or  open  his  eyes,  with- 
out encountering  falsehood  and  lies.  In  business, 
in  politics,  in  social  life,  in  professions,  and  even 
in  what  passes  for  religion,  such  untruthfulness 
reigns,  that  he  who  would  be  true  scarcely  knows 
any  more  whom  to  trust,  what  to  believe,  how  to 
move,  or  by  what  means  to  keep  his  footing,  amid 
the  ever-increasing  flood  of  unreality  and  decep- 
tion. And  yet  the  Devil  is  bound !  Do  I  color 
the  picture  too  deeply  ?  Look,  consider,  and  see 
for  yourselves.  Is  not  the  world  full  of  people, 
many  of  them  your  neighbors  and  personal  ac- 
quaintances, some  of  them  under  your  own  roofs, 
in  your  own  homes, — people  with  their  apostles, 
male  and  female,  on  the  rostrum  everywhere  with 
applauding  crowds  around  them, — people  to  whom 
the  Church  is  a  lie ;  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
a  fraud ;  the  sacraments,  absurdity ;  prayer,  a 
weak  delusion ;  the  Bible,  a  dull  record  of  super- 
annuated beliefs;  special  providence,  an  impossi- 
bility; a  personal  God  or  Devil,  a  superstitious 
conceit;  moral  accountability  to  a  future  judg- 
ment, a  thing  to  be  laughed  at ;  society,  marriage, 
and  the  body  of  our  laws,  mere  faulty  convention- 
alities; government  a  mere  device  of  the  ambitious 
and  self-seeking;  immortality,  a  mere  fiction; 
and  even  life  itself,  something  of  an  impertinent 
imposition,  or  a  mere  freak  of  mother  !N'ature ! 
And  with  such  ideas  afloat,  and  swaying  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  the  multitude  as  the  new  Gospel  of 
advanced  thought  and  human  progress,  what  is 
truth  f     Where  is  it?     On  what  are  we  to  rest? 


LECTURE   XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  287 

How  find  a  foundation  to  build  on  for  anything? 
To  such  a  philosophy,  what  is  not  a  lie,  a  perver- 
sion, a  delusion,  a  superstition,  a  cheat?  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  our  Gospel  be  true;  if  what  the 
Bible  says  of  God,  and  Christ,  and  the  nature  and 
destiny  of  man,  is  indeed  reality;  was  there  ever 
a  more  subtle,  more  specious,  more  potent,  more 
Satanic  deception  and  misleading  of  the  race,  than 
that  which  the  wiseacres  and  savants  of  our  time 
would  thus  palm  upon  our  world  ?  And  yet  the 
Devil  is  bound!  By  what  eccentricity  of  the 
human  intellect,  or  freak  of  human  intelligence,  or 
stultification  of  man's  common-sense,  could  such 
all-revolutionizing  and  infernal  falsehood  find  place 
on  earth,  and  pass  current  for  the  true  and  higher 
wisdom,  but  for  the  living  presence  and  effective 
operations  of  that  old  Deceiver  who  cheated  our 
first  parents  out  of  Paradise,  beguiled  the  early 
world  to  its  destruction  in  J^oah^s  flood,  and  is 
now  engaged  preparing  the  way  for  his  favorite 
son  to  captivate  all  the  great  powers  of  the  earth 
to  their  inevitable  damnation  ! 

No,  no,  my  friends;  the  Devil,  that  old  Serpent, 
is  not  bound.  He  is  loose.  He  ranges  at  large, 
with  his  ten  thousand  emissaries,  all  the  more 
active  and  earnest  in  his  Satanic  schemes  as  he 
seeth  that  his  time  is  short.  He  has  his  nests  and 
conventicles  in  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  all 
over  the  world,  labelled  with  all  sorts  of  attractive 
and  misleading  names.  Clubs,  institutes,  circles, 
societies,  conventions,  lyceums,  and  a  thousand 
private  coteries,  under  show  of  investigating  sci- 
voL.  III.  76 


288 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


ence,  improving  knowledge,  inquiring  into  truth, 
and  cultivating  the  mind,  free  from  the  disturb- 
ing influences  of  sect,  religion,  tradition,  and  old 
fogy  notions, — these  are  among  the  common  ma- 
chinery through  which  he  instils  his  deceits  and 
subtle  poisons.  A  broader  philosophy,  a  more 
compliant  church,  a  more  active  humanity  dis- 
daining theological  dogmas  and  positive  creeds, 
a  larger  liberality  to  take  every  one  for  a  child  of 
God  who  refrains  from  denouncing  the  devilish 
atheisms  and  heresies  of  the  times, — these  are  the 
flags  he  hangs  out  for  the  rallying  of  his  unsus- 
pecting dupes.  And  see  how  he  induces  men  and 
women  to  usurp  ministerial  functions  without 
ministerial  responsibilities,  and  gives  them  power 
on  the  plea  of  breaking  down  denominationalism 
and  making  better  saints  without  any  church  at 
all;  how  he  prostitutes  the  pulpits  to  entertaining 
sensationalisms,  defying  all  sense  and  sacred  de- 
cency, or  narrows  them  down  to  sweet  platitudes 
which  serve  to  bury  the  true  Gospel  from  those 
whom  it  was  meant  to  Bave,--and  how  he  stirs  up 
Christian  ministers  of  place  and  influence  to  say 
and  make  believe  that  all  this  attention  to  sacred 
prophecy  is  nothing  but  a  stupid  craze,  that  the 
holy  writers  never  meant  just  what  they  said,  and 
that  all  these  ill-bodings  touching  the  destiny  of 
this  present  world  are  but  the  croakings  of  birds 
that  love  to  fly  in  storms!  And  yet  he  is  bound ! 
O,  ye  people,  on  your  way  to  the  nearing  judgment 
of  the  great  Day,  "Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not 
mocked."     You  mav  be  sincere,  but  that  is  not 


LECTURE    XLIV.    CHAP.    20:1-3.  289 

enough.  Eve  thought  she  was  innocent  and  safe 
when  she  took  the  Devil's  recommendation  of  the 
forbidden  fruit;  but  her  trustful  confidence  did  not 
excuse  her.  E"o  delusion  can  serve  to  justify  be- 
fore God.  No  tricks  or  disguises  can  impose  on 
him.  He  will  be  true  though  that  truth  should 
make  every  man  a  liar.  His  old  and  everlasting 
Word  must  stand  till  every  jot  and  tittle  of  it  be 
fulfilled.  The  existence  of  a  Devil  is  not  a  myth, 
but  an  awful  reality,  and  to  his  doings  and  destiny 
we  have  other  relations  than  that  of  mere  spec- 
tators. His  dread  power  over  those  who  will  not 
have  Christ  as  their  Saviour  is  not  a  nightmare 
fancy,  or  the  dream  of  a  disordered  mental  diges- 
tion, but  a  thing  of  living  fact.  And  these  solemn 
and  momentous  Revelations  are  Jehovah's  finger- 
boards, set  up  in  mercy  along  the  path  of  human 
life,  to  point  out  the  places  of  danger  and  the  way 
of  safety.  To  despise,  neglect,  or  disregard  them 
is  not  a  characteristic  of  wisdom.  To  refuse  to 
note  and  heed  them,  is  to  try  the  insane  experi- 
ment of  seeing  how  near  you  can  graze  the  brink 
of  perdition,  and  yet  win  the  credit  of  not  tumbling 
in.  Can  you  be  wiser  than  God  who  made  you  ? 
Then  mark  the  signals  he  has  given,  and  follow 
them  implicitly. 


LECTUEE  FOETY-FIFTH. 

VISION  OF  THE  ENTHRONED  SAINTS — ITS  CONNECTION  WITH 
PRECEDING  CHAPTER — THE  SHEPHERDIZING  OF  THE  NA- 
TIONS—  THE  SHEPHERDIZEIiS  —  THEIR  THRONES — THEIR 
JUDGING  POWER  AND  REIGN — SPECIAL  NOTICE  OF  THE 
MARTYRS — THE  WORD  *' SOULS  " — A  CORPOREAL  RESUR- 
RECTION  NECESSARILY   IMPLIED. 


Rev.  20  :  4-5,  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat 
upon  them,  and  judgment  [the  power  of  judging]  was  given  to  them. 

And  (I  saw)  the  souls  of  them  who  had  been  beheaded  on  account  of 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  and  on  .account  of  the  word  of  God,  and  [of 
those]  who  did  not  worship  the  beast  nor  yet  his  image,  and  did  not 
receive  the  mark  on  [their]  forehead  and  on  their  hand;  and  they  lived 
(=  lived  again)  and  reigned  with  the  Christ  a  thousand  years. 

The  rest  of  the  dead  ones  lived  not  (again)  until  the  thousand  years 
be  completed  ;  this  [being]  the  resurrection  the  first. 

A  RICH  aod  magnificent  revelation  here  comes 
before  us.  Beautiful  and  blessed  contempla- 
tions would  it  also  afford  were  it  not  for  the  noise 
and  dust  of  controversy  which  surrounds  it.  Un- 
fortunately it  has  become  a  battle-ground  of  oppos- 
ing schemes,  not  only  of  the  interpretation  of  the 
Apocalypse,  but  of  the  whole  outcome  of  God's 
promises  and  man's  redemption.  A  war  of  the 
theologians  has  hung  upon  it  for  centuries.  Hence 
it  is  seldom  treated  otherwise  than  polemically,  or 
(290) 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  291 

with  partisan  bias.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  touch  it 
at  all  without  entering  in  some  degree  into  the  deep 
and  far-reaching  controversy  which  here  comes 
to  its  intensest  and  final  tug.  It  is  a  great  pity  that 
it  is  so.  The  effect  is  disastrous  in  many  directions. 
It  turns  multitudes  from  looking  at  the  subject. 
It  creates  suspicions  of  any  doctrines  that  seem 
to  depend  on  the  passage  in  question.  It  induces 
numbers  to  accept  the  unwarranted  conclusion 
that  the  whole  thing  is  so  mysterious,  incompre- 
hensible, and  dark,  that  no  light  or  spiritual  edi- 
iication  is  to  be  gained  from  it.  It  has  led  dis- 
putants into  inventions,  assertions,  and  ways  of 
dealing  with  the  Divine  Word,  which,  if  consist- 
ently followed  out,  would  undermine  every  dis- 
tinctive doctrine  of  Inspiration.  'Nov  is  there, 
perhaps,  another  section  of  holy  Scripture  the 
consideration  of  which  so  much  needs  the  aid  and 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  keep  the  inquirer 
in  balance  and  temper,  to  look  and  see  with  un- 
prejudiced eyes,  and  to  form  conclusions  with 
sound  and  conscientious  regard  to  what  has  been 
written  for  our  learning.  God  help  us  in  our 
handling  of  the  subject  that  we  may  rightly  con- 
ceive, embrace,  and  rest  on  his  own  everlasting 
truth ! 


The  first  point  to  which  I  direct  attention,  and 
one  too  much  overlooked,  is  the  connection  of 
these  presentations  with  the  scenes  and  statements 
of  the   preceding   chapter.     We   there   saw   the 


292  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

heaven  opened,  and  the  Lord  of  lords  and  King 
of  kings,  with  his  risen  and  glorified  saints, 
comiiior  forth  to  meet  the  Beast  and  his  confeder- 
ated  kings  and  their  armies  in  dreadful  battle. 
The  result  was  the  taking  and  casting  of  the 
Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  alive  into  the  final 
Hell,  the  slaying  of  the  rest  with  the  sword,  and 
the  chaining  and  locking  up  of  Satan  in  the  prison 
of  the  Abyss.  But,  in  connection  with  these  ad- 
ministrations, it  was  said  of  the  Sitter  on  the  white 
horse,  as.it  was  said  of  tlie  Manchild  in  chap.  12  :  5, 
"  And  he  shall  rule  or  shepherdize  the  nations  with  a 
rod  of  iron  "  (chap.  19  :  15).  The  repetition  of  this 
declaration  renders  it  particularly  significant,  and 
calls  for  our  special  attention.  The  numerous 
references  to  it  in  the  Scriptures  assign  to  it  every 
element  of  a  special  dispensation. 

That  it  does  not  refer  only,  if  at  all,  to  the  ca- 
lamities inflicted  on  the  Beast  and  his  armies  is 
clearly  evident  from  the  record.  The  instrument 
of  that  infliction  was  not  a  rod,  but  is  twice  stated 
to  be  the  sharp  sword,  proceeding  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Sitter  upon  the  white  horse.  The  eflfect  in 
that  instance  was  slaughter  and  death;  hut  shep- 
herdizing,  with  whatever  severity  of  judgment  and 
invincible  force,  is  not  the  taking  of  life.  The 
word  Tcoifiacvw  occurs  often  in  the  !N"ew  Testa- 
ment,  but  always  in  the  sense  of  feeding,  tending, 
directing,  and  helping,  with  a  view  to  preservation, 
not  destruction.  Thus  Christ  was  fore-announced 
by  the  Father,  as  '*a  Governor  that  shall  shepherdize 
Cmsivg\n,feed)  my  people  Israel."   (Matt.  2:6.)  So 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  293 

Christ  speaks  of  one  ''  having  a  servant  ploughing 
or  feeding  cattle,'^  literally,  shephcrdizing.  (Luke 
17:17.)  So  his  command  to  Peter  was,  ^'- Feed 
{shepherdize)  my  sheep."  (Jno.  21 :  16.)  And  so 
Paul  said  to  the  elders  at  Miletum,  "  Feed  (shep- 
herdize) the  Church  of  God."  (Acts  20  :  28;  also  1 
Pet.  5  :  2.)  In  all  these  instances  the  word  is  used 
to  express  a  gracious  and  merciful  proceeding, 
the  very  contrary  of  slaughter  and  destruction. 
And  when  it  is  here  said  of  the  King  of  kings  that 
he  {jzoqiavei)  shcdl  shepherdize  the  nations,  even 
though  it  be  "  with  an  iron  rod,"  we  would  do 
great  violence  to  the  word  to  interpret  it  of  the 
slaying  of  the  armies  of  the  Antichrist. 

Besides,  this  shephcrdizing  is  a  dealing  with  "M^ 
nations^^  as  such ;  whilst  the  subjects  of  the  destruc- 
tion at  Harmageddon  are  not  "the  nations"  as 
such,  but  "  the  kings  of  the  earth  and  their  ar- 
mies." Kings  may  fall,  and  armies  in  the  field  of 
battle  be  destroyed,  and  the  nations,  or  peoples  to 
which  they  belong,  still  continue  to  exist.  The  de- 
feat and  capture  of  Napoleon  at  Sedan  did  not 
extinguish  the  French  people,  or  even  the  French 
nationality.  Had  he  and  every  French  soldier 
perished  on  that  field,  France  would  still  have 
remained  ;  though  the  conqueror  might  have  fol- 
lowed up  the  victory,  and  given  to  the  French 
quite  other  laws  and  institutions,  and  organized 
them  under  a  new  rule  for  an  entirely  new  life. 
In  that  case  he  would  have  done  to  and  for  the 
French  something  of  what  is  implied  in  these 
terms  as  done  to  all  nations  by  the  Conqueror  of 


294  THEAPOCALYPSE. 

the  Beast  and  his  armies.  The  kings  fall,  and 
their  armies  are  clean  swept  away,  making  an 
utter  end  of  the  Dragon  dominion  upon  the  earth  ; 
but  then  comes  the  rod  of  iron  in  the  hands  of  the 
Conqueror,  to  shepherdize,  provide  for,  and  put  into 
new  and  better  order,  the  home-peoples  out  from 
among  whom  these  armies  went  into  the  disas- 
trous field.  The  battle  of  the  Great  Day  of  God 
Almighty  is  one  thing;  the  shepherdizing  with 
the  rod  is  another.  The  two  are  closely  connected. 
They  are  both  judgment  administrations.  The  one 
is  the  sequel  to  the  other.  But  they  are  wholly 
difi:erent  in  their  immediate  subjects,  character, 
and  results.  The  one  is  temporary,  the  other  is 
continuous.  The  sw^ord  comes  first,  and  strikes 
down  the  enemy  in  the  field;  and  then  follows 
the  shepherdizing  with  the  rod  of  discipline  and 
new  rule  over  the  peoples  whose  kings  and  armies 
are  no  more.  The  two  together  fulfil  what  is 
stated  in  Psalm  2 : 5-12,  Isaiah  11,  and  Matt. 
25  :  31-46,  w^here  the  same  rod  power  and  shep- 
herdizins:  are  further  described. 

The  Shepherdizer  is  the  same  who  conquers  in 
the  battle  with  the  Beast  and  his  confederate  kings. 
He  is  the  All-Ruler,  and  it  is  his  power  and  do- 
minion which  are  thus  enforced  with  justice  and 
with  judgment.  But  his  army  of  glorified  saints 
accompanies  him.  They  follow  him  in  his  victo- 
rious treading  down  of  his  armed  enemies.  They 
ride  through  the  blood  of  his  foes  up  to  the  horses* 
bridles.  They  pursue  the  triumph  with  him. 
And  particularly  in  this  shepherdizing  with  the 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  295 

rod  of  iron,  the  Scriptures  everywhere  assign  to 
them  a  conspicuous  share.  Hence  the  Psalmist 
sung:  ''  Let  the  saints  be  joyful  in  glory;  let  them 
sing  aloud  upon  their  beds  (resting-places).  Let 
the  high  praises  of  God  be  in  their  mouth,  and  a 
two-edged  sword  in  their  hand,  to  execute  vengeance 
upon  the  heathen,  and  punishments  upon  the  people;  to 
bind  their  kings  with  chains,  and  their  nobles  with  fetters 
of  iron ;  to  execute  upon  them  the  judgment  written  : 

THIS  HONOR  HAVE  ALL  HIS  SAINTS."    (Ps.  149.) 

The  same  is  also  very  pointedly  declared  by  the 
Saviour  himself  To  his  twelve  Apostles  he  said, 
that  when  he  should  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
they  also  should  "  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel' '  (Matt.  19  :  28.)  In  the 
address  to  the  Church  at  Thyatira,  he  said:  *'He 
that  overcometh,  and  he  that  keepeth  my  works 
unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  authority  over  the 
nations,  and  he  shall  shepherdize  them  with  a  rod  of 
iron  ;  as  a  vessel  of  earthenware  shall  they  be  broken  to 
shivers  as  I  also  received  of  my  Father."  (Rev. 
2  :  26,  27.)  If  there  were  not  another  passage  on 
the  subject,  this  alone  would  be  decisive  of  the 
point,  that  this  shepherdizing  of  the  nations  is 
shared  in  by  the  saints  in  resurrection  glory.  But 
there  are  other  passages  (see  Dan.  7:  26,  27;  1 
Cor.  6  :  2,  3 ;  Rev.  3  :  21).  One  particularly  to  the 
point  is  that  in  which  it  is  said  of  the  Manchild,  born 
into  immortality,  and  caught  away  to  God  and  his 
throne,  that  he  shall  '''shepherdize  all  the  nations 
with  a  rod  of  iron."  (Rev.  12  :  5.)  We  have  seen 
that  this  Manchild  is  a  figure  or  symbol  of  the 


296 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


true  Church,  with  Christ  at  its  head,  and  that  the 
birth  and  catching  away  to  God  is  the  resurrec- 
tion and  glorification  of  the  saints  with  their 
Lord.*  iTo  other  consistent  interpretation  of  that 
marvellous  "  sign''  is  at  all  possible.  And  yet,  to 
that  Manchild,  after  its  removal  to  glory,  is  as- 
signed this  very  shepherdizing  of  the  nations. 

It  is  therefore  scripturally  certain  that  this 
ruling  or  shepherdizing  with  the  rod  of  iron, 
which  follows  up  the  destruction  of  the  armies  of 
the  Antichrist,  is  a  thing  in  which  the  glorified 
saints  have  a  very  conspicuous  part. 

Where,  then,  in  the  apocalyptic  chart  do  we 
find  this  very  particular  administration  but  in  the 
grand  vision  now  before  us?  As  I  have  been  led 
to  view  things,  we  have  here  the  picture  of  the 
victorious  Christ,  with  his  enthroned  and  glorified 
saints,  in  the  rule  or  shepherdizing  of  all  the  na- 
tions with  a  rod  of  iron,  the  same  which  is  cele- 
brated by  the  Psalmist,  promised  by  Christ,  and 
so  distinctly  affirmed  in  the  description  of  the 
Manchild,  as  well  as  in  the  account  of  the  coming 
forth  of  the  Sitter  on  the  white  horse. 

II. 

With  this  view  of  the  connection  and  scope  of 
this  vision,  we  pass  to  the  more  direct  considera- 
tion of  its  presentations,  every  item  of  which  goes 
to  prove  that  this  is  the  natural,  true,  and  neces. 
sary  conception  of  the  whole  matter. 

*  See  Lectures  XXVI  and  XXVIII  in  Vol.  II  of  this  work. 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5. 


297 


John  saw  "  thrones.'^  Judicial  or  regal  adminis- 
trations imply  seats  of  authority.  The  Sitter  on 
the  white  horse  came  crowned.  His  shepherdizing 
of  the  nations  is  in  his  character  as  conquering 
King.  It  is  therefore,  in  its  very  nature,  an  ad- 
ministration of  sovereign  authority.  The  saints 
share  with  him  in  it,  as  we  have  seen.  Hence  the 
need  for  thrones,  or  royal  seats,  for  these  sover- 
eign shepherdizers.  Daniel  speaks  of  these  same 
thrones.  He  saw  them  set,  and  the  going  forth 
of  authority  from  them,  which  is  further  described 
as  the  authority  of  one  like  a  Son  of  man,  to  whom 
was  given  "  dominion,  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that 
all  people,  nations,  and  languages  should  serve 
him."  (Dan.  7  :  9-14.)  They  are  the  same  of  which 
the  Saviour  spoke  to  his  twelve  Apostles,  and  con- 
cerning which  he  has  promised,  "  To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  give  to  sit  with  me  on  my 
throne,  as  I  also  overcame  and  sat  down  with  my 
Father  on  his  throne."  (Rev.  3:  21.) 

These  are  not  empty  seats.  John  says  ;  "  The}/ 
sat  upon  ihem.'^  Who  ^'ihey''  are,  seems  to  have 
troubled  commentators  to  determine.  Some  say 
*'  they  "  are  the  martyrs ;  some  say  "  they  "  are  the 
spirits  or  disembodied  souls  of  the  martyrs;  some 
say  "they''  are  the  principles  of  the  martyrs;  some 
say  "  they"  are  the  men  of  that  generation  quick- 
ened from  the  death  of  sin  and  raised  up  to  emi- 
nent zeal,  saintship,  and  influence  while  yet  living 
in  mortal  flesh;  some  say  "they"  simply  repre- 
sent a  more  potent  dominion  of  Christianity,  the 
sway  of  the  Gospel  over  the  nations ;  and  some 


298  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

are  entirely  at  a  loss  to  say  who  "  they  "  are.  Bat 
there  must  be  something  fundamentally  wrong  in 
men's  theories  of  the  Apocalypse  as  a  whole,  or 
they  could  not  here  be  in  such  straits  of  uncer- 
tainty. 

Surely  the  sitters  on  these  thrones  are  those  to 
whom  this  implied  judicio-regal  authority  is  every- 
where promised.  Kor  are  the  passages  few  in 
which  those  promises  are  given.  In  the  text  itself 
it  is  expressly  said  that  these  sitters  upon  these 
thrones  are  '^priests  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and  reign 
with  him,'' — ''reign  loith  Christ.''  But  what  atten- 
tive reader  of  the  Bible  does  not  know  that  God's 
chosen  and  anointed  kings  and  priests  are  none 
other  than  his  true  and  faithful  people  ?  In  the 
opening  of  this  Book,  John  spoke  of  himself  and 
fellow-Christians, — all  who  are  freed  from  sin  by 
Christ's  blood, — as  those  whom  God  hath  made 
kings  and  priests  (chap.  1 :  5,  6).  The  Living 
Ones  and  the  Elders  gave  glory  to  the  Lamb  for 
making  them  "  kings  and  j^riesis  of  God,'^  destined 
to  ^'  reign  on  the  earth."  Who  are  they  but  glori- 
fied men,  redeemed  unto  God  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb  "  out  of  every  tribe,  and  tongue,  and  people, 
and  nation  ?"  (Rev.  5  :  9, 10.)  These  king-priests 
must  therefore  be  God's  ransomed  people ;  Peter 
pronounces  his  fellow-Christians  "a  chosen  gene- 
ration, a  rogal  priesthood,^'  who,  "when  the  chief 
Shepherd  shall  appear,"  for  this  shepherdizing  of 
the  nations,  "shall  receive  a  glorious  crown." 
(IPet.  2:9;  5:4.) 

To  what  did  he  thusrefer  but  these  very  dignities, 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  299 

and  to  the  true  people  of  God  as  the  inheritors  of 
them  ?  Daniel,  in  vision,  saw  the  judgment  sit, 
and  the  dominion  of  the  Beast  taken  away  by  the 
mighty  power  of  God,  and  declares  that  then  "the 
Kwgdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  King- 
dom under  the  lohole  heaveri,  shall  be  givm  to  the  people 
of  the  saints  of  the  Most  EighJ'  (Dan.  7:26,  27.) 
What  did  he  mean  but  the  very  thing  here  beheld 
by  John,  and  that  the  sitters  on  these  thrones  are 
the  saints  of  God  ?  Paul  wrote  of  "  a  crown,''  for 
which  he  strove,  which  is  to  be  the  possession  of 
all  "good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  would  give  him  "at 
that  day,"  and  "unto  all  them  that  love  his  appear- 
ing.'' (2  Tim.  2:3-5;  4  :  7,  8.)  And  so  the  Saviour 
himself  exhorts  his  "little  flock"  not  to  fear,  as 
it  is  the  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  them  the 
kingdom  (Luke  12:^2),  enjoins  upon  his  disci- 
ples to  hold  fast  that  no  one  take  their  crown  (Kev. 
3  :  11),  and  promises  every  faithful  and  good  ser- 
vant to  "make  him  ruler  over  all  his  goods"  (Matt. 
24  :  46,  47).  It  is  also  an  inevitable  principle,  that 
the  conquerors  take  the  dominion  ?  The  Sitter  on 
the  white  horse  conquers  in  the  Battle  of  the  Great 
Day,  and  by  virtue  of  that  triumph  he  becomes 
the  Supreme  King.  But  with  him  through  all  the 
mighty  engagement  were  his  glorified  saints,  in 
white  apparel,  on  white  horses,  indicative  of  their 
character  of  associate  governors  and  judges.  (Judges 
f) :  10.)  With  him  in  the  fight,  they  are  with  him 
in  the  victory,  and  share  the  sovereignty  which 
that  victory  secures.     He  conquers,  and  therefore 


300  THE   APOOALtPSB. 

reigns;  they  conquer  with  bim,  and  therefore  they 
"  reign  with  him."  Thus  the  sitters  on  these  thrones 
are  none  other  than  Christ's  saints  whom  John  saw^ 
following  their  Lord  when  he  came  forth  to  make 
an  end  of  theantichristian  domination, and  inaugu- 
rate ids  own  shepherdizing  of  the  nations. 

Their  sitting  upon  these  thrones  is  not  an  empty 
show.  As  Christ's  taking  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  earth  is  a  sublime  reality,  so  must  that  of  his 
victorious  peoples'  participation  in  it  also  be.  Nor 
are  we  left  to  gather  this  by  mere  inference.  John 
says  expressly  that  '■^judgment  was  given  to  them,'' — 
xpi/m^ — the  act  or  power  of  judging,  including  the 
foraiing  of  sentences  and  the  execution  of  the 
same,  as  in  Matt.  7:2;  19  :  28 ;  Jno.  9  :  39;  Rom. 
2:2,  3;  1  Cor.  6:7.  That  is,  as  Altbrd  remarks, 
"they  were  constituted  judges."  The  work  of 
shepherdizing  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron  nec- 
essarily involves  intrustment  with  discretionary 
power  to  act ;  and  this  is  the  office  and  power  here 
said  to  be  given  to  these  sitters  on  these  thrones.* 
The  "judgment "  which  they  thus  receive  is  other- 
wise expressed  when  it  is  said  of  them  that  they 
''reignJ^  The  possession  of  the  judging  power  is 
most  intimately  conjoined  with  sovereignty, or  the 
office  of  reigning.  Thus  "David  reigned  over  all 
Israel ;  and  David  executed  judgment  and  justice  unto 


*  '<  Thp  word  KftXfia  in  this  clause  may  be  interpreted  as  applying 
to  the  supervision  or  making  of  statutes,  ordinances,  arrange- 
ments, etc.,  by  those  who  are  in  a  superior  station.  This  seems 
to  many  to  be  the  most  easy  and  natural  construction." — Stuart, 
in  loc. 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  30I 

all  the  people/'  (2  Sam.  8: 15.)  Thus  the  Queen 
of  Sheba  said  to  Solomon :  "  The  Lord  made  thee 
king,  to  do  judgment  and  justice."  (1  Kings  10:  9.) 
Tliey  are  enthroned  kings  and  priests,  and  they 
are  thus  endowed  with  the  prerogatives  of  the  regal 
office.  The}^  are  to  reign.  They  are  to  exercise  the 
royal  functions.  Therefore  they  get  the  power  of 
judging  and  of  executing  judgment  and  justice, 
which  is  the  very  office  of  the  shepherdizing  prom- 
ised to  the  victorious  children  of  God,  and  so  em- 
phatically set  forth  in  what  was  said  of  the  par- 
ticular destiny  of  the  Manchild.  Up  to  this  time 
it  is  a  matter  of  promise  and  hope,  but  here  it  is 
made  a  matter  of  possession  and  actual  fact, — a 
thing  finally  reached  and  realized. 

Once  it  was  the  fate  of  believers  to  be  judged 
by  the  ungodly  world-powers.  Jesus  told  his  fol- 
lowers that  they  should  be  brought  before  councils, 
governors,  and  kings,  and  tliat  time  would  come 
when  men  would  think  it  a  holy  thing  to  adjudge 
them  worthy  of  stripes,  imprisonment,  and  death. 
So  Paul  stood  before  the  courts  of  earth,  saying: 
"  I  stand  and  am  judged.''  But  man's  day  has  a 
limit,  and  then  comes  another  order,  when,  as 
Mary  sung,  God  "  shall  put  down  the  mighty  from 
their  seats,"  and  "  exalt  them  of  low  degree," — 
when  the  Pauls  shall  be  the  royal  judges,  and  the 
Felixes,  and  Festuses,  and  Agrippas,  and  Caesars, 
then  in  place,  shail  be  obliged  to  accept  the  sen- 
tences of  heavenly  justice  from  God's  immortal 
potentates,  who  once  stood  helpless  at  earth's  tri- 
bunals; for  so  itis  written,  "the  saints  shall  judge 


302  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  world"  (1  Cor.  6:2),  and  "shall  take  the 
Kingdom,  and  possess  the  Kingdom  forever,  even 
forever  and  ever"  (Dan.  7:18);  and  Christ,  the 
victorious  All-Ruler,  according  to  his  promise,  will 
"  give  them  autliority  over  the  nations,  to  shepherdize 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron  "  (Rev.  2 :  26,  27),  invin- 
cibly and  eflectually. 

Among  those  who  suffer  the  greatest  penalties 
and  privations  for  their  faith  are  the  holy  martyrs 
and  those  who  hold  out  faithful  under  the  dread- 
ful Antichrist.  When  a  man  lays  down  his  life  for 
his  Lord,  he  surrenders  all  that  he  can  surrender, 
and  lets  go  what  all  the  instincts  of  humanity  lead 
one  to  cling  to  to  the  last.  Human  law  knows  no 
heavier  penalty  than  the  taking  of  a  man's  life; 
and  when  this  is  accepted,  rather  than  deny  the 
Saviour  or  his  Word,  the  common  world,  as  w^ell  as 
Christianity,  takes  it  as  the  sublimest  testimony  a 
man  can  give  of  his  devotion.  And  when  people 
consent  to  suffer  nakedness,  banishment,  and 
death,  rather  than  make  themselves  guilty  of  an 
act  of  homao;e  to  the  Antichrist,  it  is  a  demonstra- 
tion  of  steadfastness  as  great  as  it  is  possible  to 
furnish.  Hence  there  is  a  somewhat  special  vision 
vouchsafed  to  the  Apocalyptic  seer  to  indicate 
the  rewards  of  such  fidelities.  J^ot  only  does  he 
behold  the  sitters  on  the  thrones  in  general,  and 
the  giving  of  judicial  and  royal  authority  to  the 
body  of  the  saints  as  a  whole,  but  he  is  particu- 
larly shown  that  the  martyrs,  and  those  who  wor- 
ship not  the  Beast,  are  surely  among  them.  Thus 
he  tells  us : 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  393 

"  And  {I  saw)  the  souls  of  them  ivho  had  been  beheaded 
on  account  of  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  and  on  account 
of  the  word  of  God,  and  [of  those']  who  did  not  worship 
the  beast  nor  yet  his  image,  and  did  not  receive  the  mark 
on  [their]  forehead  and  on  their  hand;  and  they  lived 
i=  lived  again)  and  reigned  with  the  Christ.'' 

Whilst  the  body  of  the  saints  in  general  partici- 
pate in  these  rewards,  it  is  thus  shown  that  the 
martyrs  in  particular,  together  with  the  faithful 
ones  of  the  last  evil  time,  are  specially  included. 
The  martyrs  and  the  faithful  ones  under  the  Beast 
are  not  different  parties  from  the  sitters  on  the 
thrones,  but  special  classes  specifically  included. 
A  somewhat  parallel  presentation  occurs  in  chap- 
ter 1 :  7,  where  it  is  said  of  the  Saviour  at  his  great 
Epiphany,  that  "  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they 
wliich  pierced  him."  The  meaning  is  not  that 
*'  they  which  pierced  him  "  form  a  separate  class 
apart  from  "  every  eye,"  but  that  even  those  who 
slew  Christ  shall  also  be  among  those  denoted  by 
"  every  eye,"  and  that  they  too  shall  look  upon 
him.  It  deserved  to  be  thus  noted  specially  that 
the  murderers  of  Christ  will  have  to  confront  him, 
as  well  as  men  in  general ;  and  so  here  it  deserved 
to  be  noted  specially  that  the  holy  martyrs,  and 
the  faithful  ones  under  the  Antichrist,  have  their 
part  and  place  with  the  sitters  upon  the  thrones, 
and  that  they  particularly  are  among  those  who 
reign  with  Christ. 

Special  notice  of  the  martyrs  in  their  disem- 
bodied state  was  taken  in  chapter  6 :  9.  They 
were  not  enthroned  then,  but  in  depression,  anx- 
voL.  III.  77 


304  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ious  for  their  final  vindication.  The  record  says : 
"  When  he  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  beneath 
the  altar  the  souls  of  those  that  had  been  slain  on 
account  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  on  account  of  the 
testimony  which  they  held  fast :  and  they  cried 
with  a  great  voice,  saying,  Until  when,  thou  Master, 
the  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge 
our  blood  from  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth.  And 
there  was  given  to  each  of  them  a  white  robe,  and 
it  was  said  to  them  that  they  should  rest  yet  a 
little  time,  until  their  fellow-servants  also,  and 
their  brethren,  shall  have  been  completed,  who 
are  about  to  be  slain  as  also  they  themselves  had 
been."  The  very  parties  there  spoken  of  are  here 
specified  as  among  the  sitters  upon  the  thrones; 
to  wit,  the  martyrs  then  under  the  altar,  their  fel- 
low-servants who  were  subsequently  to  fall  because 
of  their  refusal  to  worship  the  Beast.  A  necessity 
was  thus  begotten  for  some  subsequent  notice  of 
them  in  connection  with  the  final  outcome  for 
which  they  were  told  to  wait.  That  notice  we  have 
in  the  text,  which  notice  takes  its  special  character 
from  the  previous  allusion  to  these  particular  par- 
ties, and  the  implied  promise  given  them,  not  as 
over  against  the  sitters  on  the  thrones,  or  as  the 
only  sitters  there,  but  as  specially  included  among 
them.  It  is  a  gracious  note  of  testimony  from 
heaven  to  the  greatest  sufibrers  for  Christ  that, 
when  it  comes  to  the  inheritance  of  the  Kingdom 
and  the  reigning  of  the  saints  with  their  Lord, 
they  are  to  be  specially  considered.  Having  laid 
down  their  lives  for  their  faith,  or  having  held  out 


LfiCTURfi    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-6.  3O6 

'faithfully  against  the  horrible  deceptions  and  per- 
secutions of  the  Antichrist,  the  assurance  is,  that 
they  particularly  shall  be  among  these  priests  of 
God  and  of  Christ,  to  share  in  his  sublime  domin- 
ion. Though  in  the  ashes  before,  they  are  to  live 
again  for  this  very  purpose. 

Some  stumble  at  the  word  souls  {<I'oxa<;),hy  which 
these  martyrs  are  denoted,  as  if  that  introduced  a 
peculiarity  determinative  of  the  whole  character  and 
interpretation  of  the  vision.  But  it  is  nothing  but 
a  metaphysical  quibble,  by  which  to  obscure  and 
get  rid  of  a  plain  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God  which 
some  do  not  like.  It  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  say, 
that  one  of  the  common  uses  of  this  word  in  the 
!N"ew  Testament  is  to  denote  individual  beings, 
and  persons  in  the  body,  rather  than  spirits  of  men 
out  of  the  body.  So  the  converts  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost are  called  "  about  three  thousand  souls ;^^  and 
Jacob  and  his  kindred  who  w^ent  down  into  Egypt 
are  spoken  of  as  "threescore  and  fifteen  souls ^ 
and  those  sailing  with  Paul  in  the  ship  were  "two 
hundred  threescore  and  sixteen  souls;''  and  in 
the  ark  with  N'oah  "  eight  souls  were  saved."  In 
such  passages  disembodied  souls  are  out  of  the 
question.  Indeed,  one  of  the  rarest  uses  of  the 
word  by  the  sacred  writers,  if  ever  so  used,  is  that 
which  confines  its  meaning  to  the  designation  of 
that  part  of  man  capable  of  existence  apart  from 
the  body.  More  commonly,  it  means  corporeal 
life  as  distinguished  from  corporeal  death.  And 
as  respects  principles,  or  a  mere  moral  influence, 
there  is  no  instance  in  all  the  Word  of  God  of  its 


306  'fHE    APOCALYPSE. 

use  in  that  sense.  That  the  word  souls,  in  John's 
vision  of  the  martyrs  beneath  the  altar,  means  jper- 
sons  dead  as  to  their  bodies,  is  very  evident,  not, 
however,  from  the  meaning  of  the  word,  but  from 
the  accompanying  statement  that  the  souls  he  saw 
were  people  slai7i  on  account  of  their  faith.  He 
sees  the  same  people,  persons,  souls,  here;  but  this 
time  £^r]ffav — ''^  they  lived  again.^'"^  As  mere  souls 
separate  from  the  body,  they  never  were  dead. 
John  saw  them,  and  heard  them  speaking,  and 
beheld  them  invested  in  white  robes,  and  recog- 
nized them  as  still  living  and  waiting,  though  dead 
as  to  their  bodies.  The  living  again  in  which  he 
now  sees  them,  must  therefore  be  a  living  in  that 
in  which  they  were  dead  when  he  first  saw  them, 
that  is,  corporeally  dead.  There  is  a  resurrection  of 
the  bodies  of  dead  men,  but  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  the  resurrection  of  the  spirits  of  dead  men.  For 
living  men  there  may  be  a  spiritual  resurrection 
from  the  death-state  of  sin,  but  there  is  no  such 
spiritual  resurrection  for  dead  men.  John  had  seen 
these  "souls"  under  death  as  to  their  bodies,  but 
here  as  "  livwg  again  ;  "  of  course,  living  now  in  that 
in  which  they  were  dead  then ;  that  is,  in  corporeal 

*  "  I  argue  from  the  Greek  text  that  the  souls  must  in  this  in- 
stance be  a  synecdoche  for  the  persons,  and  that  the  living  again 
must  signify  the  union  of  body  and  soul.  For  first,  in  the  pas- 
sage '  which,  or  who,  had  not  worshipped  the  Beast,'  the  word 
which  [oiTiveg)  is  in  the  masculine  gender,  whereas  souls,  which 
is  the  antecedent  to  it,  is  feminine.  So,  also,  '  the  rest  of  the  dead, 
(ot  XoiTToi)  is  in  the  masculine,  in  antithetical  opposition  to  those 
that  were  beheaded,  tu^  Tvc'TrETieKiofiEvuv." — Dr.  N.  Holmes's  i2e«- 
urrection  Revealed,  p.  58. 


LECTURE   XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  397 

resurrection.^  for  as  to  their  spirit  life  they  had  not 
been  dead.''' 

So  far,  then,  from  this  word  souls  introducing  an 
element  requiring  the  exclusion  of  any  thought  of 
literal  corporeal  resurrection,  it  the  rather  proves 
that  we  cannot  possibly  understand  any  other  sort 
of  resurrection.  That  of  which  their  martyrdom 
deprived  them,  their  livi7\g  again  restores  to  them ; 
hence,    necessarily,   corporeal   resurrection,  —  the 


*  "How  can  we  avoid  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  e^j^aav 
here  must  mean  reviving  or  rising  from  the  dead?  The  use  of 
^dw  elsewhere  in  the  Apocalypse  shows  very  plainly  that  it  may 
mean  revived,  lived  again,  in  reference  to  the  body  which  had 
been  dead.  Thus  the  Saviour  speaks  of  himself,  in  Rev.  2 : 
8,  as  being  he  who  had  been  dead,  kuI  eCrjae,  and  had  revived,  lived 
again,  after  the  death  of  the  body.  Thus,  too,  it  is  said  of  the 
Beast  (Rev,  13  :  14)  which  had  the  deadly  wound  of  the  sword, 
that  iCv<^e,  it  revived.  Thus  also  it  is  said,  the  rest  of  the  dead 
ovK  Kr]aav,  lived  not  again.  Surely  the  writer  does  not  mean 
that  Christians  of  lower  rank,  or  the  wicked,  have  no  existence 
at  all  after  the  death  of  the  body." — Stuart  in  loc. 

"  It  does  not  mean  that  they  lived  spiritually,  for  so  they  did 
before,  and  whilst  they  bore  their  testimony  to  Christ  and  against 
Antichrist  previous  to  their  death ;  nor  i?i  their  successors,  for  it 
would  not  be  just  and  reasonable  that  theg  should  be  beheaded 
for  their  witness  of  Christ  and  his  word,  and  others  should  live 
and  reign  with  Christ  in  their  room  and  stead  Nor  is  this  to 
be  understood  of  their  living  in  their  souls,  for  so  they  live  in 
their  separate  state ;  the  soul  never  dies ;  God  is  not  the  God  of 
the  dead,  but  of  the  living.  But  the  sense  is,  that  they  lived 
again,  as  m  verse  5,  they  lived  corporeally  ;  their  souls  lived 
in  their  bodies,  their  bodies  being  raised  again,  and  reunited 
to  their  souls;  their  whole  persons  lived,  or  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  beheaded  lived  ;  that  is,  their  bodies  lived  again,  the 
soul  being  sometimes  put  for  their  body;  and  this  is  called  the 
first  resurrection  in  the  next  verse." — Dr   John  Gill  in  loc. 


308  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

only  resurrection  of  which  martyrs  are  capable. 
Spiritual  resurrection  is  out  of  the  question,  for 
they  were  spiritually  resurrected  before  they  be- 
came martyrs,  and  could  not  be  holy  martyrs 
without  it.  Mere  influential  resurrection  is  equally 
out  of  the  question,  for  their  living  again  is  to 
possess  the  rewards  of  martyrdom,  which  would 
be  a  mere  farce  in  any  case  not  involving  a  lit- 
eral personal  resurrection.  What  reward  is  it  to 
a  man  under  the  altar  who  has  lost  his  head 
for  his  fidelity,  that  somebody  else  after  him 
shows  the  same  fidelity  !  What  compensation  was 
it  to  Paul  for  his  execution  at  Rome,  that  Con- 
stantine  some  centuries  after  sat  on  the  throne  of 
the  Caesars,  and  inscribed  the  sign  of  the  Cross 
upon  his  banners !  Such  a  result  was  indeed  worth 
sacrifice  to  achieve;  but  that  achievement  was 
nothing  of  a  personal  reward  to  Paul.  The  souls 
under  the  altar  knew  there  were  men  of  their  own 
faith  and  spirit  on  the  earth,  who  should  be  as  true  to 
God  as  they  had  been;  but  that  was  no  compensa- 
tion to  them,  and  did  not  keep  theni  from  crying 
with  a  great  voice  :  ''  Until  when,  thou  Master, 
the  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge 
our  blood  !  "  Besides,  the  Scriptures  everywhere 
place  the  recompenses  of  the  sacrifices  and  devo- 
tions of  the  saints  "  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just.'' 
(Luke  14 :  14.)  Neither  martyrs  nor  saints  get 
their  rewards  till  then.  (2  Tim.  4  :  8 ;  1  Pet.  1 :  7,  8; 
5  :  4.)  The  compensations  of  the  saints  must  there- 
fore wait  till  "  the  resurrection  of  the  just."  But 
bore  we  have   the  rewards  of  God's  faithful  wit- 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  309 

nesses;  therefore  the  resurrection  spoken  of  can 
be  none  other  than  a  literal  and  real  resurrection, 
the  same  which  is  set  forth  in  all  the  Scriptures  as 
the  great  hope  of  all  saints. 

So  likewise  the  antithesis  between  the  living 
again  of  these  ^' souls"  and -the  non-living  again 
of"  the  rest  of  the  dead  till  the  thousand  years  be 
completed,"  evidences  that  the  resurrection  spoken 
of  is  a  literal  resurrection.  The  deadness  of  this 
"  remainder  of  the  dead"  certainly  is  a  bodily  dead- 
ness; otherwise  there  are  to  be  no  conversions  on 
earth  for  full  a  thousand  years.  Their  living  again 
at  the  completion  of  the  thousand  years  is  a  bodily 
resurrection  ;  for  they  come  up  out  of  the  sea,  out 
of  death,  out  of  Hades,  where  they  could  not  have 
been  without  being  corporeally  dead.  John  says 
expressly  that  they  are  "  the  dead,  the  great  and  the 
small,''  and  that  they  thus  live  again,  in  a  state  of 
recovery  from  death  and  Hades,  for  the  purpose 
of  receiving  their  final  doom.  If  this  does  not 
signify  a  literal  resurrection  of  them  at  the  end  of 
the  thousand  years,  there  is  no  way  of  proving 
that  there  ever  will  be  a  literal  resurrection  for 
anybody.  But  if  their  living  again  at  the  termi- 
nation ofthethousandyears  is  a  literal  resurrection, 
then  their  non-living  again  during  those  thousand 
years  must  be  a  state  of  literal  corporeal  deadness. 
And  if  their  non-living  again  till  the  thousand 
years  are  accomplished  is  a  continuation  in  a  state 
of  corporeal  death,  then  the  living  again  of  those 
to  whom  they  stand  correlated  as  "  the  remainder 
of  the  dead"  must  be  a  literal  corporeal  resur- 


310 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


rectioa  also.*  There  is  no  escape  from  this  argu- 
ment. As  Alford  well  says,  "If  in  a  passage  where 
two  resurrections  are  mentioned,  where  certain 
'  souls'  live  again  at  the  first,  and  '  the  rest  of  the 
dead'  live  again  only  at  the  end  of  a  specified 
period  after  the  first,^f  in  such  a  passage  the^V^^ 
resurrection  may  be  understood  to  mean  spiritual 
rising  with  Christ,  while  the  second  means  literal 
rising  from  the  grave ;  then  there  is  an  end  of  all 
significance  in  language,  and  Scripture  is  wiped 
out  as  a  definite  testimony  to  anything.  If  the  first 
resurrection  is  spiritual,  then  so  is  the  second; 
but  if  the  second  is  literal,  then  so  is  the  first, 
which,  in  common  with  the  whole  primitive 
Church  and  many  of  the  best  modern  expositors, 
I  do  maintain,  and  receive  as  an  article  of  faith 
and  hope."  {Gr.  Test,  in  loc.) 

Furthermore,  it  is  inwoven  and  implied  in  every 
particular  in  the  presentation  concerning  these 
sitters  on  these  thrones,  that  the  scene  to  them  is 
a  post-resurrection  scene. 

In  chapter  11 :  18,  it  was  adoringly  said  by  the 
holy  Elders,  that  the  time  of  the  sounding  of  the 
seventh  trumpet  is  the  time  or  season  for  judging 
the  dead,  to  give  reward  to  the  servants  of  God, 

*  "  In  the  phrases  first  resurrection,  and  second,  a  discrep- 
ancy as  to  time  is  implied.  Any  great  change  from  a  de- 
graded and  wretched  condition,  temporal  or  spiritual,  may  in- 
deed be  figuratively  called  a  resurrection,  a  restoration  to  life, 
i.  e.,  to  happiness ;  but  it  would  be  out  of  the  question  to  name 
it  a  first  resurrection.  This  implies  of  necessity  a  comparison 
with  a  second,  in  which  the  first  must  be  like  the  second  in 
kind.^' — Stuart  i?i  loc. 


LECTURE    XLV.     CHAP.    20:  4-5. 


11 


the  prophets,  the  saints,  and  them  that  fear  his 
name,  the  small  and  the  great.  The  description 
before  us  belongs  to  the  season  of  the  sounding  of 
the  seventh  trumpet,  which  terminates  at  this 
point  a  thousand  years  before  another  resurrec- 
tion of  any  sort  occurs.  Either  then  this  sets 
forth  the  reward  given  to  the  servants,  prophets, 
and  saints  of  God,  inclusive  of  their  resurrection, 
or  these  holy  Elders  were  altogether  mistaken 
and  misinformed,  and  John  was  in  error  in  record- 
ing what  they  said  as  true. 

Paul  says,  that  when  Christ,  who  is  our  life, 
shall  appear,  then  shall  his  people  appear  with  him 
in  glory.  (Col.  3  :  4.)  But  here  Christ  has  appeared. 
The  heaven  has  opened,  and  he  has  come  forth  as 
triumphant  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords, 
crowned  with  all  his  many  diadems,  consigning 
the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  to  final  perd'ition, 
striking  their  assembled  armies  dead,  and  locking 
up  the  Devil  in  the  Abyss.  Where,  then,  are  his 
people  who  are  to  be  revealed  with  him  in  resur- 
rection glory  when  these  things  come  to  pass,  if 
these  sitters  upon  these  thrones  be  not  they? 

These  enthroned  ones  have  had  their  judgment 
and  obtained  reward;  otherwise  they  could  not 
be  thus  enthroned,  for  enthronement  is  reward. 
But  the  time  of  such  reward  of  the  saints  is  the 
time  of  their  resurrection,  and  not  before;  there- 
fore, these  enthroned  ones  must  here  be  in  their 
resurrected  and  glorified  estate. 

They  occupy  thrones,  and  they  reign  ;  therefore, 
they  must  have  received  their  crowns;  but  the 


312  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

saints  are  not  crowned  till  the  chief  Shepherd  ap- 
pears, and  they  have  been  recalled  from  their 
graves  (2  Tim.  4  :  8  ;  1  Pet.  5:4);  therefore,  again, 
these  crowned  ones  must  here  be  in  their  resur- 
rected condition. 

They  are  kings  and  priests,  they  reign,  they  are 
enthronedas  royal  judgesand  potentates,  they  share 
with  Christ  in  his  judging  and  shepherdizingof  the 
nations;  but  it  is  only  to  those  who  have  over- 
come, and  been  crowned  by  the  great  Judge  of  all 
as  victors, — to  the  Manchild  born  into  immortality 
and  caught  up  to  God  and  his  throne, — that  this 
power  over  the  nations  thus  to  rule  or  shepherd- 
ize  is  given.  (Rev.  2  :  26,  27;  12 :  5.)  How,  then, 
can  these  enthroned  and  reigning  ones  be  any 
other  than  resurrected  saints,  in  possession  of  post- 
resurrection  rewards  and  glory  ?  I  wonder  at  the 
strange  obtuseness  of  candid  and  sensible  men,  that 
they  should  have  the  slightest  question  on  the  sub- 
ject. Either  human  theorizings  are  more  authori- 
tative than  God's  positive  revelations,  or  those  are 
all  wrong  who  refuse  to  take  these  sitters  on  these 
thrones  as  the  resurrected  and  glorified  saints. 

And  still  the  evidence  is  not  exhausted.  There  is 
a  word  in  the  record  which  makes  the  matter  doubly 
sure.  This  whole  presentation  concerning  the 
lifting  and  placing  of  these  enthroned  ones  in  their 
royal  seats  to  live  and  reign  with  Christ  for  a 
thousand  years,  John  pronounces  "  The  Besurrec- 
tionr' — "  The  Resurrection  the  FlrstJ^  The  word 
Resurrection  (wArrrafftq)  is  never  once  used  in  the 
J^ew  Testament,  except  to  denote  the  coming  up 


LECTURE   XLV.    CHAP.    20:4-5.  313 

again  of  the  fallen  body  from  the  grave.  It  occurs 
more  than  forty  times,  and  always  in  this  one, 
uniform,  and  exclusive  sense.  Yet  the  emplace- 
ment of  these  people  in  these  sublime  seats  is 
called  {heir  dvdaraffiq — their  Resurreciioji,  ]^ay,  more, 
the  Holy  Ghost  calls  it  ^  ava<rra<;£c,  emphatically  the 
Resurrection,  partly  in  its  relation  to  a  second,  and 
partly  with  reference  to  its  own  transcendent  pre- 
eminence, as  the  particular  object  of  our  highest 
Christian  hopes.  How  men,  who  profess  loyalty 
to  the  Scriptures,  and  hold  themselves  in  con 
science  bound  to  the  Word  of  God,  can  get  over 
such  facts,  and  reduce  the  whole  picture  of  this 
glorious  enthronement  of  the  saints,  to  what  they 
call  **  special  respect  to  their  priuciples,  their 
memory,  and  their  character"  rendered  by  mor- 
tal men,  or  to  a  mere  revival  of  the  martyr  spirit 
and  faith  in  times  of  glory  for  the  Church  on 
earth  when  there  is  no  more  room  for  martyrs, 
is  utterly  beyond  my  comprehension.  It  upturns 
all  acknowledged  principles  of  interpretation  from 
their  very  foundations.  It  opens  the  door  for  the 
explaining  away  of  every  distinctive  feature  of  the 
Christian  faith.  And  it  turns  all  the  great  prom- 
ises of  God  and  hopes  of  his  Church  into  mist, 
dimness,  and  dreamy  nothing.  If  these  thrones, 
this  royal  judgeship,  this  reigning  with  Christ,  this 
thousand  years'  dominion  and  rulership,  this  lift- 
ing of  the  holy  martyrs  including  prophets  and 
apostles  into  seats  of  sovereignty  and  shepherd- 
izing  of  the  nations,  do  not  belong  to  the  awards 
which  only  the  Resurrection  can  bring,  it  is  sim- 


314  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ply  impossible  to  find  any  solid  basis  in  God's 
Word  for  any  special  doctrine  of  our  faith  which 
we  claim  to  derive  from  that  source. 

Look  at  it,  my  friends.  The  Bible  tells  us  un- 
mistakably that  the  illustrious  apostles  do  not  get 
their  thrones  till  "  the  regeneration  when  the  Son 
of  man  shall  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory '^ 
(Matt.  19 :  28);  and  yet  men  would  teach  us  that 
some  of  their  disciples  in  the  flesh  shall  sit  on  ex- 
actly such  thrones,  and  reign  with  Christ  as  his 
kings  and  priests  for  a  thousand  years,  "as  if  they 
ivere  apostles  raised  from  the  dead,^^  whilst  yet  those 
apostles  themselves  are  all  the  while  still  sleeping 
unrewarded  in  their  graves !  The  holy  martyrs  we 
know  do  not  get  their  recompense  till  "  the  resur- 
rection of  the  just;"  and  yet  we  are  to  accept  it 
as  the  revelation  of  God,  that  mortal  men,  who 
are  not  martyrs  at  all,  and  have  no  chance  of  be- 
coming martyrs,  ascend  martyr  thrones,  and  sit 
and  reign  with  Christ  as  kings  for  ten  centuries, 
"  «5  if  they  were  martyrs  raised  from  the  dead^'^ 
whilst  the  martyrs  themselves  are  meanwhile  left 
in  the  ashes  beneath  the  altar,  crying,  How  long, 
0  Lord,  how  long!  Apai^  from  all  the  linguistic 
and  exegetical  arguments  which  stand  out  against 
such  notions,  as  a  continent  against  the  sea,  the 
very  absurdity  of  the  implications  ought  to  be 
enough  to  satisfy  every  one  that  such  anomalies 
certainly  cannot  belong  to  the  administrations  of 
a  just  and  holy  God. 

But  I  cannot  go  further  into  the  subject  to- 
night.    Believing  that  I  have  contributed  some- 


LECTURE    XLV.    CHAP.    20:4^5. 


315 


thing  toward  a  right  understanding  of  this  much- 
abused  passage  of  the  divine  revelation,  I  close 
with  the  single  remark:  How  sublime  and  glo- 
rious is  the  portion  which  remains  for  God's  true 
people  !  Here  are  thrones  to  last  a  thousand  years, 
and  forever,  and  they  are  to  occupy  them.  Here 
is  sovereignty  and  judicial  rule  over  the  nations, 
and  they  are  to  exercise  and  wield  it  along  with 
their  victorious  Redeemer  and  King.  Here  are  a 
thousand  years  of  glorious  life  over  against  a 
thousand  years  in  the  sombre  abodes  of  Hades, — 
a  life  which  they  are  to  possess  and  enjoy  forever 
free  from  all  fear  or  power  of"  the  second  death." 
What  is  beyond  will  appear  as  we  come  to  the 
concluding  chapters;  but  this  alone  presents  a 
prospect  and  honor  for  the  saints  well  worth  a 
life  of  suffering  and  trial,  and  for  which  life  itself 
is  not  too  dear  a  price. 


LECTURE  FORTY-SIXTH. 

THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION — A  RESURRECTION  OF  SAINTS  ONLY — 
TAKES  PLACE  IN  SUCCESSIVE  STAGES — NOT  DESCRIBED  IN 
ANY  ONE  VISION — INTRODUCES  A  WONDERFUL  CHANGE  IN 
THE  EARTH'S  HISTORY  —  PROMOTES  ITS  SUBJECTS  TO  A 
TRANSCENDENT    DIGNITY    AND   GLORY. 


Rev.  20  :  6.  (Revised  Text)  Blessed  and  holy  he  that  hath  part  in 
the  reanrrection  the  first !  Over  these  the  second  death  has  no  power, 
but  they  shall  be  priests  of  the  God  and  of  the  Christ,  and  reign  with 
him  a  thousand  years. 

MY  conviction  is  clear  and  positive  that  the 
resurrection  here  spoken  of  is  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  saints  from  their  graves,  in  the  sense 
oftheNicene  Creed,  where  it  is  confessed :  "Hook 
for  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  life  of  the 
world  to  come."  With  the  distinguished  Dean  of 
Canterbury,  Dr.  Alford,  to  whose  critical  labors  the 
Christian  world  is  much  indebted,  "  I  cannot  con- 
sent to  distort  words  from  their  plain  sense  and 
chronological  place  in  the  prophecy,  on  account  of 
any  considerations  of  difficulty,  or  any  rise  of 
abuses  which  this  doctrine  may  bring  with  it." 
With  Paul,  "I  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth, 
but  for  the  truth."  (2  Cor.  13  :  8.)  The  word  here 
rendered  Resurrection  is  more  than  forty  times 
(316) 


LECTUKE    XL  VI.    CHAP.    20:6. 


317 


used  in  the  JSTew  Testament  and  four  times  in  the 
Apocrypha,  and  always  in  the  one  only  sense  of  a 
rising  again  of  the  body  after  it  has  fallen  under 
the  power  of  death.     The  emphasizing  of  it  as 
The  Eesurrection  cannot,  with  any  degree  of  pro- 
priety, be  understood  of  any  mere  metaphorical 
or  symbolic  rising.     The  placing  of  it  as  the  first 
in  a  category  of  two  resurrections,  the  second  of 
which  is  specifically  stated  to  be  the  literal  rising 
again  of  such  as  were  not  raised  in  the  first,  fixes 
the  sense  to  be  a  literal  resurrection.     What  it 
describes  is  located  in  the  time  of  the  judging  of 
the  dead  and  the  giving  of  reward  to  the  saints, 
for  which   recovery  from  their  graves  is  a  pre- 
requisite.    It  exalts  to  an  ofifice  of  judging,  shep- 
herdizing,  and  reigning,  the  same  which  is  else- 
where dependent  upon  the  final  victory  and  the 
complete  redemption  of  the  whole  man.     All  the 
rewards,  dignities,  and  honors  promised  to  saints 
at  and  after  the  resurrection,  are  necessarily  in- 
cluded in  what  is  assigned  to  those  who  share  in 
this  resurrection.     All  the  connections  and  sur- 
roundings, antecedent  and  consequent,  and  the 
impossibility  of  consistently  adjusting  it  to  the 
rest  of  the  Apocalypse  or  the  Scriptures  in  general 
on  any  other  supposition,  combine  to  show  that  the 
reference  is  and  must  be  to  persons  in  resurrec- 
tion life  and  glory.     I  am  also  perfectly  sure,  that 
any  candid  critic,  set  to  work  to  make  out  an 
honest  list  of  the  men  of  the  first  three  centuries 
of  the  Church  who  believed  in  a  literal  resurrec- 
tion of  saints  a  thousand  years  before  the  resur- 


318  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

rection  of  the  wicked,  would  find  in  this  chapter 
the  most  ample  and  cogent  reasons  for  placing 
the  Apostle  John  among  them.  I  cannot,  there- 
fore, but  take  it  as  the  true  meaning  and  intent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  we  should  here  under- 
stand a  real  and  literal  resurrection  of  saints  and 
martyrs  from  their  graves. 

Who  partake  in  it?  is  the  question  suggested 
and  answered  in  the  text  now  before  us,  concern- 
ing which  I  remark : 

1.  It  is  a  resurrection  of  saints  only.  They  that 
have  part  in  it  are  "  blessed  and  holy."  Whether 
the  reference  be  to  the  qualifications  for  it,  or  to 
what  it  brings,  or  to  both,  the  result  is  the  same, 
that  none  but  true  members  of  Christ  are  in  this 
resurrection ;  for  none  but  such  are  "  blessed  and 
holy."  Neither  in  this  life,  nor  in  that  which  is 
to  come,  can  an  unbeliever,  a  wicked  or  profane 
person,  be  reckoned  with  the  "  blessed  and  holy ; " 
but  every  one  that  hath  part  in  this  resurrection 
is  "  blessed  and  holy." 

Many  have  the  idea  that  there  is  but  one  resur- 
rection for  all  men,  good  and  bad  alike.  It  is  also 
true  that ''  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  (1  Cor.  15  :  22.)  But  it  is 
immediately  added,  "  every  man  in  his  own  order.'' 
It  is  not  a  summary  thing,  all  at  once,  and  the 
same  in  all  cases.  The  resurrection  of  the  wicked 
is  in  no  respect  identical  with  that  of  the  saints, 
except  that  it  will  be  a  recall  to  some  sort  of  cor- 
poreal life.  There  is  a  "  resurrection  of  life,"  and 
there  is  a  "  resurrection  of  damnation  "  (Jno.  5 :  29) ; 


LECTURE    XL VI.    CHAP.    20:6.  319 

and  it  is  impossible  that  these  should  be  one  and 
the  same.  There  is  a  "  resurrection  of  the  just/' — 
"a  better  resurrection," — a  resurrection  out  from 
among  the  dead  (s^avdaraatq  ex  vsxpcov),  for  which 
great  zeal  and  devotion  are  requisite  (Luke  14 :  14; 
Heb.  11  :  35;  Phil.  3  :  10,  11),— which  is  every- 
where emphasized  and  distinguished  from  another, 
more  general,  and  less  desirable.  As  it  is  *•'  the 
resurrection  of  the  just,"  the  unjust  have  no  share 
in  it.  As  it  is  a  resurrection  from  among  the  dead 
ones,  it  is  necessarily  eclectic^  raising  some,  and 
leaving  others,  and  so  interposing  a  difference  as 
to  time,  which  distinguishes  the  resurrection  of 
some  as  in  advance  of  the  resurrection  of  the  rest. 
Hence  the  Scriptures  continually  draw  a  line  of 
distinction  between  the  resurrection  of  the  good 
and  the  resurrection  of  the  bad;  and  when  the 
two  are  mentioned  together,  the  resurrection  of 
the  good  is  always  mentioned  first.  Hence,  in 
the  celebration  of  the  standing  up  again  of  the 
congregation  of  the  righteous,  the  Psalmist  is  par- 
ticular to  say  that  sinners  shall  7iot  stand  up  with 
them.  (Ps.  1 :  5.)  Thus  Paul  also  assured  the 
Thessalonians  that  "  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise 
firsts  (1  Thess.  4  :  16.)  If  we  understand  this 
"first"  as  over  against  the  translation  of  living 
saints,  as  some  take  it,  or  as  over  against  the  res- 
urrection of  the  dead  not  in  Christ,  as  Professor 
Stuart  claims  the  meaning  to  be,  it  is  all  the  same. 
The  declaration  is  that  only  "  the  dead  in  Christ'' 
are  partakers  of  this  resurrection ;  and  it  there  is 
this  difference  in  time  between  "the  resurrection 
VOL.  HI.  78 


320  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  the  dead  in  Christ"  aud  the  translation  of  the 
living  **  in  Christ,"  all  the  more  surely  will  there  be 
a  still  wider  difference  in  time  between  the  rising 
of  "  the  dead  in  Christ"  and  the  rising  of  the  dead 
not  in  Christ,  who  are  altogether  excluded  from 
those  who  are  said  to  nsejirst.  It  is  not  true,  there- 
fore, that  we  go  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  Scrip- 
ture when  we  construe  "the  first  resurrection,"  in 
which  only  the  blessed  and  holy  have  part,  as  a 
literal  resurrection  of  the  saints,  occurring  long 
before  and  apart  from  the  resurrection  of  the  non- 
blessed.* 


*  "  There  is  a  general  impression  that  the  belief  in  the  First 
Resurrection  at  a  different  time  from  that  of  the  general  res- 
urrection rests  solely  on  this  passage.  (Rev.  20 :  6.)  But  this 
is  a  great  mistake.  Omitting  the  passages  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  sustained  by  the  promises  of  which  the  ancient 
worthies  suffered  and  served  God  in  hope  of  '  a  better  resur- 
rection '  (Heb.  11 :  35),  our  Lord  makes  a  distinction  between 
the  resurrection  which  some  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  ob- 
tain, and  some  not.  (Luke  20 :  3,  5.)  St.  Paul  says  there  is  a 
resurrection  '  out  from  among  the  dead^  {e^avaaraaLg)i  to  attain 
which  he  strove  with  all  his  might  as  the  prize  to  be  gained. 
(Phil.  3:11.)  He  also  expressly  tells  us,  that  while  as  in  Adam 
all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive  ;  yet  it  shall  not  bo  all 
at  once.  (1  Cor.  15  :  22-24.)  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  wherever 
the  resurrection  of  Christ,  or  his  people,  is  spoken  of  in  Scrip- 
ture, it  is  a  *  resurrection /rom,  or  from  among,  the  dead  ; '  and 
wherever  the  general  resurrection  is  spoken  of,  it  is  the  '  resur- 
rection of  the  dead.'  This  distinction,  though  preserved  in 
many  instances  in  the  English  translation,  is  too  frequently 
omitted;  but  in  the  Greek  the  one  is  always  coupled  with  the 
preposition  Ik,  out  of  ov  from  among^  and  the  other  is  without 
the  preposition  ;  and  in  the  Vulgate  it  is  rendered  by  d.  mortuis, 
or  ex  m.ortuis,  as  distinct  from  resurrectio  mortuorum..  In  Rom. 
8:11,*  the  spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead,' 


LECTURE    XLVI.    CHAP.    20:6.  321 

2.  It  is  a  resurrection  ivhich  takes  j)tace  in  different 
stages,  and  not  all  at  one  and  the  same  time.  Paul 
tells  us  expressly  that  there  is  an  '•'' order '^  in  it, 
which  brings  up  some  at  one  time,  and  others 
at  other  times.  It  starts  with  '^  Christ  the  first 
fruits;"  afterwards  they  that  are  Christ's  at 
his  coming;  then  (still  later)  the  end,  "comple- 
tion, or  last."  (1  Cor.  16  :  23,  24.)  Christ's  resur- 
rection was  also  attended  with  the  resurrection 
of  others.  The  Gospel  says:  "The  graves  were 
opened,  and  many  bodies  of  the  saints  which  slept 
arose,  and  came  out  of  the  graves  after  his  resur- 
rection, and  went  into  the  holy  city."  (Matt. 
27  :  52,  53.)  This,  Selnecker,  one  of  the  authors 
of  the  Formula  Concordi(£,  says,  "  places  and  parcels 
out  the  resurrection  of  those  who  are  raised  to 
eternal  life  before  the  general  resurrection  at  the 
last  day ;  and  the  meaning  properly  is,  that  not 
only  those  of  whom  the  Evangelist  is  writing  be- 
come alive  again,  but  also  others,  as  Luther  and 
Ambrose  have  written,  and  that  such  resurrec- 
tions occur  at  various  times  throughout  the  whole 

it  is  £/c  veKpo)v,  d  mortuis.  So  in  Eom.  10:  7  ;  Eph.  1  :  20;  Heb. 
3  :  20;  1  Pet.  1 :  3,  21.  So  Lazarus  was  raised  ek  vsKpijv.  (Jno. 
12  :  1,  9.)  Our  Lord,  in  his  reply  to  thcSadducees,  made  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  general  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the 
resurrection  which  some  should  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain, 
(Luke  20 :  34,  35.)  St.  Paul,  when  he  spoke  of  a  resurrection  to 
which  he  strove  and  agonized  to  attain  (Phil.  3:  8,  11),  as  if 
one  preposition  was  not  enough  to  indicate  or  emphasize  his 
meaning,  uses  it  doubled,  rriv  k^avacracig  t7jv  ek  veicpuv,  adresur- 
rectionem,  qucB  est  ex  mortuis — the  special  or  eclectic  resurrec- 
tion, that  one  from  among  the  dead.'^ — Consult  M.  Stuart  on  the 
Apocalyj)6e,  vol.  ii,  pp.  474-490. 


322  '^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

period  or  dispensatiou  of  the  Kew  Testament, 
eveu  up  to  the  final  day."  These  various  particu- 
lar resurrections  he  also  calls  "  The  First  Resur- 
rection, to  which,"  he  says,  '^  belongs  everything 
raised  up  again  to  eternal  life  before  the  final 
day."* 

This  statement  agrees  also  with  what  we  have 
found  in  the  course  of  our  exposition  of  this  Book. 
In  chapter  4,  immediately  following  the  sentences 
to  the  Churches,  John  saw  a  door  open  in  the 
heaven,  through  which  he  was  called  to  come  up. 
That  door  and  ascension  indicate  a  resurrection 
and  rapture  of  saints  (answering  to  1  Thess.  5  :  16, 
17);  for  John  immediately  beheld  Living  Ones  and 
Elders  in  glory.  They  were  saints  from  earth,  for 
they  sing  of  being  redeemed  by  Christ's  blood  "  out 
of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  tribe,  and  peo- 
ple." They  are  in  resurrection  life,  for  they  are 
enthroned  and  crowned;  and  no  saints  are  crowned 
tilf  the  resurrection  of  the  just."  They  correspond 
to  "the  Eagles"  gathered  together  where  the 
body  they  live  on  is,  who  are  thus  sheltered  in  the 
heavenly  pavilion  from  the  sorrows  of  the  great 
tribulation.  (Matt.  24  :  27,  28;  Luke  17  :  34-37; 
21  :  34-36;  Rev.  3  :  10.)  They  are  already  in 
heaven,  before  ever  a  seal  is  broken,  a  trumpet 
sounded,  or  a  bowl  of  wrath  emptied. 
'  Further  on,  in  chapter  7,  under  the  sixth  seal, 
a  great  multitude  was  seen,  also  in  heaven,  clothed 

*  Exp.  of  Rev.  and  Daniel,  Gena,  1567.  See  also  Danhauer. 
Kromayer's  Elenchticus  in  Aug.  Conf.,  501-2,  and  Lange's  Ap. 
Licht,  u.  Recht,  179. 


LECTURE    XLVI.    CHAP.    20:6.  323 

with  white  robes,  and  bearing  palms  of  victory. 
John  beheld  them  with  the  Living  Ones  and  El- 
ders, but  distinct  from  them,  and  then  just  arrived. 
Whence  they  came,  is  asked  and  explained.  They 
come  "  out  of  the  great  tribulation,'' — a  tribu- 
lation from  which  the  Elders  or  seniors  in  heaven 
were  saved  altogether,  being  "  accounted  worthy 
to  escape  all  these  things."  They  answer  to  the 
wise  virgins,  who  were  not  ready  when  the  watch- 
ful and  far-sighted  Eagles  were  "taken,"  but 
who,  in  sorrow  and  mortification,  had  now  re- 
pented out  of  their  misbeliefs,  taken  up  the  lamps 
of  a  better  confession,  and  gone  out  in  true  advent 
faith  to  meet  the  Bridegroom,  thus  washing  their 
robes  and  making  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  securing  a  heavenly  portion  indeed,  but 
with  certain  losses,  and  at  a  period  subsequent 
to  the  taking  up  of  the  Elders  and  Living  Ones. 

So  at  a  still  later  period,  even  after  the  reve- 
lation of  the  blasphemous  Beast,  two  great  Wit- 
nesses appear,  whom  he  finally  slays.  Three 
days  and  a  half  their  bodies  lie  unburied.  But, 
at  the  end  of  that  time  they  come  to  life  again, 
stand  on  their  feet,  and  ascend  to  heaven  in  sight 
of  their  enemies.  Whether  any  of  their  disciples 
are  taken  up  with  them,  as  might  reasonably  be 
inferred,  or  whether  they  alone  are  raised  at  this 
time,  here  is  certainly  another  special  or  particu- 
lar resurrection  which  goes  to  make  up  the  com- 
pany of  the  *'  blessed  and  holy." 

Yet  further  on,  in  chapter  14,  still  another  special 
company  appears,  quite  distinct  from  any  thus  far 


324  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

named,  consisting  of  144,000,  "  redeemed  from  the 
earth"  and  "from  among  men,"  singing  a  new 
song  of  their  own,  and  joined  with  the  Lamb  to 
follow  him  whithersoever  he  goeth.  They  cer- 
tainly belong  to  "  the  children  of  the  resurrection,'' 
to  the  congregation  of  God's  glorified  saints;  but 
the  season  of  their  inbringing  is  not  the  same  as 
that  of  the  others  referred  to. 

So,  in  connection  with  the  gathering  of  the 
kings  and  their  armies  at  Harmageddon,  there  is 
a  note  of  indication  that  other  saints  were  then  on 
the  eve  of  being  taken  (chap.  16  :  15);  whilst  here 
in  the  vision  of  the  whole  body  finally  made  up, 
some  are  described  as  having  lived  in  the  very  last 
days  of  the  Antichrist,  yet  did  not  worship  him  or 
receive  his  mark;  indicating  that  the  first  resur- 
rection is  not  finally  complete  until  the  very  last 
period  of  the  Man  of  sin. 

It  is  thus  clear  and  manifest,  even  to  the  extent 
of  demonstration  itself,  that  the  First  Resurrection 
is  not  one  summary  event,  but  is  made  up  of  va- 
rious resurrections  and  translations  at  difi^erent 
times,  beginning  with  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
who  is  the  head  and  front  of  "  the  resurrection  of 
the  just,"  and  receiving  its  last  additions  some- 
where about  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Beast  and 
his  armies, 

3.  It  is  a  Resurrection  ichich  as  a  lohole  is  nowhere 
pidorially  described.  As  it  does  not  occur  all  at 
once,  it  is  not  fully  given  in  any  one  vision, 
as  in  the  case  of  "the  rest  of  the  dead."  The 
nearest  to  such  a  scenic  presentation  is  that  given 


LECTURE    XLVI.    CHAP.    20:6.  325 

in  chapter  12,  iu  the  picture  of  the  birth  of  the 
Man  child,  which  is  immediately  caught  up  to  God 
and  to  his  throne.  That  birth  and  ascension  is  the 
pictorial  "  sign"  of  the  bringing  forth  of  all  "  the 
Church  of  the  first-born"  into  eternal  life  and  res- 
urrection glory,  which  began  in  the  resurrection 
and  ascension  of  Christ  himself,  and  which  reaches 
its  completion  when  the  last  martyr  under  the 
Beast  attains  his  final  blessedness.  But  even 
there,  no  circumstantial  details  appear,  except 
the  malignant  and  murderous  attempt  of  the 
Dragon  to  prevent  it.  It  is  quite  too  varied  and 
diverse  in  its  several  sections,  and  in  the  diflerent 
parts  which  the  blessed  and  holy  have  in  it,  for 
any  one  picture  adequately  to  represent  it.  Hence 
there  is  no  such  picture.  What  John  here  sees 
and  describes  is  not  so  much  the  scene  of  its  oc- 
cuirence  as  the  body  of  its  subjects,  the  estate  to 
which  it  brings  them,  the  blessedness  and  honor 
with  which  it  clothes  and  endows  them.  He  be- 
holds who  and  what  they  are  that  have  part  in  it; 
but  when,  how,  or  in  connection  with  what  times, 
formalities,  and  surroundings  they  are  made  to 
live  again,  he  does  not  here  see  or  state,  as  in 
the  case  of  those  who  live  not  again  till  the  thou- 
sand years  are  ended.  The  reason  is,  that  the  sub- 
ject is  not  capable  of  it,  because  so  parcelled  out 
in  various  particular  scenes,  relating  to  diiferent 
classes  and  times,  and  with  very  diverse  circum- 
stances and  attendant  facts. 

It  is  not  so  with  "  the  rest  of  the  dead."  As  none 
of  them  share  in  the  First  Resurrection,  so  none  of 


326  T^^    APOCALYPSE. 

them  belong  to  ^'  the  blessed  and  holy."  They  are 
all  of  the  one  general  class  of  the  non-saved.  The 
reading  in  the  Codex  Sinaiticus  is,  that  they  are 
all  xazsxpWfiaav — condemned. 

The  book  of  life  is  opened  and  searched  from 
end  to  end,  but  there  is  no  account  of  any  name 
of  any  one  of  them  being  found  there.  Leaving 
out  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet,  who  are  then 
already  in  the  lake  of  lire,  they  are  all  resurrected 
together.  They  all  have  their  judgment  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  and  all  meet  the  same  fate. 
One  picture  can  readily  give  the  whole  scene,  with 
all  the  circumstances  and  particulars.  And  so  it 
is  given,  in  connection  with  the  great  white  throne. . 
But,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  thus  it  could  not  be 
with  "the  resurrection  of  the  just."  I^Tor  does 
Christ  ever  mount  a  throne  of  judgment  toward 
his  Church  and  people.  They  are  his  familiar  ser- 
vants, friends,  and  brethren.  Leaving  the  world, 
he  leaves  them  to  occupy  for  him,  and  in  his  name. 
The  Kingdom  he  gets  is  not  against  them,  but  for 
them,  that  they  may  share  it  with  him.  They  are 
of  the  King's  party  and  household.  When  he 
comes,  he  comes,  according  to  the  Parables,  first 
to  one,  and  then  to  another,  and  so  in  succession, 
advancing  each  band  of  faithful  and  good  servants 
to  their  reward  one  after  another,  "  every  man  in 
his  own  order."  He  meets  and  rewards  the  best 
first,  and  so  descends  from  class  to  class,  as  from 
time  to  time,  till  the  whole  body  of  his  redeemed 
ones  is  made  up  in  all  its  variety  of  orders  and  de- 
grees, according  to  fidelity  to  his  word  and  service. 


LECTURE    XLVI.    CHAP.   20:6.  327 

4.   The  eompleiion  of  this  Besurreciion  introduces  a 
wonderful  change  in  the  earth's  history.     It  is  the 
breaking   through    of    an   immortal    power ;— a 
power  which   sweeps  away,  as  chaff  before  the 
wind,  the  whole  economy  of  mortal  and  Dragon 
rule,  and  thrusts  to  death  and  Hades  every  one 
found  rising  up  or  stiffening  himself  against  it;— 
a  power  which   shears   the   Old  Serpent  of  his 
strength,  binds  him  with  a  great  chain,  locks  and 
seals   him  up  in   the  Abyss,  pulls  down  all  his 
works,  tears  off  and  clears  away  all  his  hoary  false- 
hoods, which   have   been   oppressing,  deceiving, 
misleading,  and  swaying  the  world  to  its  destruc- 
tion for  so  many  ages  ;— a  power  which  gives  to 
the  nations  new,  just,  and  righteous  laws,  in  the 
administration    of  immortal   rulers,  whose  good 
and    holy  commands  men  must  obey  or  die;— a 
power  which  cuts  at  once  the  cords  of  life  for 
every  dissembling  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  blasts 
every  Nadab  and  Abihu  that  ventures  to  offer 
strange  fire  before  the  Lord,  consigns  to  death 
and  burning  every  Achan  that  covets  the  Baby- 
lonish garment  or  wedge  of  gold  which  God  hath 
pronounced   accursed,  and   causeth  the  earth  to 
open  her  mouth  and  swallow  up  on  the  spot  every 
Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  that  dares  to  open  his 
mouth  against  the  authority  of  the  holy  prince^ 
whom  Jehovah  hath  ordained;— a  power  wine 
grasps  hold  of  the  plethoric  fortunes  accumulate  < 
in  meanness  and  oppression  and  held  in  greedy 
avarice  for  the  pampering  of  lust  and  pride,  hew- 
ing them  down  in  righteousness  and  scattering 


328  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

them  in  restitutions  to  those  out  of  whom  they 
have  been  so  uncharitably  and  dishonestly  ground 
and  wrung; — a  power  which  goes  forth  in  vindi- 
cation  of  the   w^orthy   poor,   the   oppressed,  the 
weak,  the  friendless,  and  the  downtrodden,  the 
righting  of  their  cause,  the  maintenance  of  their 
just   claims,  and   the   enforcement  of  truth  and 
brotherhood   between    man  and  man; — a  power 
which  lifts  the  mask  from  deceit,  pretence,  and 
false  show,  puts  each  one  in  his  true  place  ac- 
cording to  what  he  really  is,  gives  credit  only 
where  credit  is  due,  stamps  an  effectual  condemna- 
tion on  all  false  weights  and  measures,  and  tries 
everything  and  everybody  in  the  balances  of  a  strict 
and  invincible  justice.     I  think  of  the  coming  in 
of  that  power, — of  the  havoc  it  must  needs  make 
in  the  whole  order  of  things, — of  the  confusion  it 
will  cause  in  the  depraved  cabinets,  and  courts, 
and  legislatures  of  the  world, — of  the  revolution 
it   must  work  in   business  customs,  in  corpora- 
tion managements,  in  political  manipulations,  ia 
mercantile  and  manufacturing  frauds,  in  the  lies 
and  hoUownesses  which  pervade  social  life, — of 
the  changes  it  must  bring  into  churches,  into  puU 
pits,  into  pews,  into  worship,  into  schools,  into 
the  newspapers,  into  book- making  and  book-read- 
ing, into  thinking  and  philosophy,  and  into  all  the 
schemes,   enterprises,   judgments,   pursuits,   and 
doings  of  men, — of  how  it  will  affect  literature, 
art,  science,  architecture,  eating,  drinking,  sleep- 
ing, working,  recreating, — of  what  it  must  do  con- 
cerning playhouses,  and  rumshops,  and  gambling 


LECTURE  XLVI.  CHAP.  20:6.       329 

hells,  and  the  unhallowed  gains  by  which  great 
masses  of  people  have  their  living  and  keep  them- 
selves up  in  the  world.  And  as  I  thus  begin  to 
realize  in  imagination  what  the  irresistible  en- 
forcement of  a  true  and  righteous  administration 
in  all  these  directions  and  relations  necessarily 
implies,  I  can  see  why  the  Book  of  God  describes 
it  as  a  shepherdizing  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  calls  it 
a  breaking  like  the  dashing  to  pieces  of  an  article 
of  pottery.  Think  of  the  sudden  collapse  of  all 
the  haunts  of  sin,  the  rooting  out  of  the  nests  and 
nurseries  of  iniquity,  the  clearing  away  of  the 
marshes  and  bogs  of  crime,  where  every  style  of 
damning  pestilence  is  bred,  and  the  changes  that 
must  hence  come; — think  of  the  summary  abolition 
of  all  infamous  cliques,  combinations,  and  rings, — 
political  rings,  whiskey  rings,  municipal  rings, 
state  rings,  railroad  rings,  mercantile  rings,  commu- 
nistic rings,  oath-bound  society  rings,  and  a  thou- 
sand kinds  of  other  rings, — all  the  children  of 
wickedness,  hindering  just  law,  suppressing  moral 
right,  crippling  honest  industry,  subsidizing  legis- 
lation, corrupting  the  press,  robbing  the  public 
treasuries,  eating  up  the  gains  of  honorable  occu- 
pation, perverting  public  sentiment,  spotting  and 
exorcising  men  who  cannot  be  made  the  tools  of 
party,  transmuting  selfish  greed  and  expediency 
into  principle,  razeeing  the  dominion  of  virtue 
and  intelligence,  subordinating  the  common  weal 
to  individual  aggrandizement,  and  setting  all  right- 
eous administration  at  defiance ; — think  of  the  uni- 
versal and  invincible  dragging  forth  to^  divine  jus- 


330  ^H^    APOCALYPSE. 

tice  of  every  blatant  infidel,  perjurer,  liar,  profane 
swearer,  drunkard,  drunkard-maker,  whoremong- 
er, hypocrite,  slanderer,  trickster,  cheat, thief, mur- 
derer, trader  in  uncleanness,  truce-breaker,  traitor, 
miser,  oppressor  of  the  poor,  bribe-taking  legisla- 
tor, time-serving  preacher,  mal-practitioner,  babe- 
destroyer,  friend-robber,  office-usurper,  peace-dis- 
turber, and  life-embitterer ; — think  of  the  instan- 
taneous going  forth  into  all  the  v^orld  of  a  divine 
and  unerring  force,  which  cannot  be  turned  or 
avoided,  but  which  hews  down  every  fruitless 
tree,  purges  away  all  chaff  from  every  floor,  nega- 
tives all  unrighteous  laws,  overwhelms  all  un- 
righteous traffic,  destroys  all  unrighteous  coali- 
tions, burns  up  every  nest  of  infamy  and  sin,  fer- 
rets out  all  concealed  wickedness,  exposes  and 
punishes  all  empty  pretence,  makes  an  end  of  all 
unholy  business,  and  puts  an  effectual  stop  to  all 
base  fashions,  all  silly  conceits,  all  questionable 
customs,  and  all  the  hollow  shams  and  corrupt 
show  and  fastidiousness  of  what  calls  itself  society, 
transferring  the  dominion  of  the  almighty  dollar 
to  Almighty  Right,  and  reducing  everything  in 
human  life,  pursuits,  manners,  and  professions  to 
the  standard  of  rigid  truth  and  justice; — think  of 
the  tremendous  revolution,  in  all  that  the  eye  can 
see,  the  ear  hear,  the  hand  touch,  the  heart  feel, 
or  earthly  being  realize,  that  must  needs  attend 
the  putting  into  living  practical  force  of  such  an 
administration, — the  high  it  must  make  low,  the 
famous  it  must  make  infamous,  the  rich  it  must 
make   poor,   the    mighty   it   must   make   power- 


LECTURE    XLVI    CHAP.    20:6.  331 

less,  the  load  it  must  sink  to  oblivion,  the  admired 
and  worshipped  it  must  turn  to  disgrace  and  ab- 
liorrence,  and  the  despised  and  contemned   poor 
it  must  lift  into  place  and  respectability,— the  dlt- 
t'erent  impulse  under  which  every  wheel  must  then 
turn,  every  shuttle  move,  every  hammer  strike, 
every  foot  step,  every  mind  calculate,  and  every 
heart  beat;— the  change  that  must  come  over  the 
houses  we  enter,  over  the  streets  we  walk,  over 
the  people  we  meet,  over  the  words  we  pronounce, 
over  the  food  we  eat,  over  the  air  we  breathe, 
over  the  sunlight  of  the  day,  over  the  repose  of 
night,  over  the  spirit  of  our  waking  hours  and  the 
ve'i'y  dreams  of  our  slumbers,  and  over  all  the  ele- 
ments, relations,  activities,  and  experiences  which 
go  to  make  up  what  we  call  life  ;— think,  I  say,  of 
all  this  tremendous  revolution,  and  conceive  it 
going  into  invincible  effect,  unchangeably,  without 
compromise,  at  once,  and  forever;  and  you  may 
begin  to  have  some  idea  of  the  alteration  which 
The  First  Resurrection  is  to  introduce  into  the  his- 
tory of  our  earth.    For  this,  and  nothing  less  than 
this,  is  the  meaning  of  this  sitting  upon  thrones, 
receiving  power  of  judgment,  shepherdizing  the 
nations,  and  reigning  on  the  earth,  on  the  part  of 
these  blessed  and  holy  immortals. 

And  a  good  thing  it  will  be  for  the  nations  when 
that  day  comes.  There  can  be  nothing  better  than 
God's  law.  There  can  be  nothing  more  just,  more 
reasonable,  more  thoroughly  or  wisely  adapted  to  all 
the  well-being  of  man  and  the  highest  wholesome- 
ness  of  human  society.    All  the  blessedness  in  the 


332  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

universe  is  built  upon  it.  All  that  is  needed  for 
the  establishment  of  a  holy  and  happy  order  is  for 
men  to  obey  that  law,  for  it  to  be  put  in  living 
force,  for  it  to  be  incarnated  in  the  feelings,  ac- 
tions and  lives  of  men.  And  this  is  what  is  to  be 
effected  when  "the  children  of  the  resurrection" 
get  their  crowns,  and  go  into  power,  with  Christ 
the  All-Euler  at  their  head.  They  are  to  shep- 
herdize,  and  deal  with  the  nations,  and  with  all 
that  make  up  the  nations,  as  unerring  and  immor- 
tal kings  and  priests,  to  direct,  instruct,  and  feed 
them  with  all  the  loving  care  of  angels,  but  with 
"  a  rod  of  iron"  in  their  hands  to  enforce  docility, 
obedience,  and  unreserved  surrender  to  all  the 
laws  and  requirements  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 
And  under  this  reign  shall  be  fulfilled  what  the 
prophets  have  prophesied,  and  sung  in  golden 
numbers,  about  the  peace  and  blessedness  which 
is  in  reserve  for  this  sin-hurt  and  long  dow^ntrod- 
den  inheritance  of  man.  You  may  call  it  Juda- 
ism, if  you  like  ;  you  may  sneer  at  it  as  fantastical 
conceit;  you  may  denounce  it  as  a  carnal  dream; 
you  may  brand  it  as  heresy;  but  it  is  nevertheless 
the  truth  of  God,  to  which  you,  and  I,  and  all  men, 
are  inexorably  bound;  and  which  has  every  pros- 
pect of  becoming  experimental  fact  before  the  cen- 
tury approaching  has  passed  away.  I  hail  its 
coming,  and  I  bid  it  vrelcome,  as  the  great  hope 
and  regeneration  of  our  depraved  and  misgoverned 
world. 

5.   The  completion  of  this  Besurrection  promotes  the 
subjects  of  it  to  a  transcendent  glory.   Saintship  means 


LECTURE    XLVI.    CHAP.    20:6.  333 

honor.  It  is  not  so  in  this  present  world.  The  great- 
est of  the  Apostles,  with  all  his  great  achievements 
and  sublime  experiences,  was  compelled  to  say, 
"If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we 
are  of  all  men  the  most  miserable/'  (1  Cor.  15  :  19.) 
The  great  Master  of  all  told  his  disciples  from  the 
beginning,  "If  ye  were  of  the  world,  the  world 
would  love  his  own ;  but  because  ye  are  not  of  the 
world,  but  I  have  chosen  you  out  of  the  world, 
therefore  the  world  hateth  you."  (Jno.  15 :  19.)  The 
unregenerate  heart  does  not  like  the  Gospel  phi- 
losophy and  the  Gospel  requirements ;  and  whilst 
it  continues  unregenerate,  it  has  no  favors  for  those 
who  defend  and  live  it,  and  insist  on  its  accept- 
ance as  the  only  hope  for  man.  Hence  the  history 
of  the  Church,  wherever  it  has  been  truest,  purest, 
and  most  itself,  is  a  Book  of  Martyrs.  But  "  the 
resurrection  of  the  just"  brings  the  people  of  God 
their  compensation.  "  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that 
hath  pari  m  the  Resurrection  the  First!  Over  these 
the  Second  Death  has  no  poicer,  but  they  shall  be  priests 
of  the  God  and  of  the  Christy  and  reign  with  him  a 
thousand  years'^  Analyze  a  little  the  exultant 
statement. 

First  of  all,  they  are  partakers  of  resurrection^ 
the  first  resurrection,  the  blessed  resurrection. 
Not  all  of  them  actually  suffer  death.  Such  of 
them  as  are  alive,  and  remaining,  and  ready,  when 
the  time  comes,  are  "  caught  up,"  translated,  carried 
off  into  the  resurrection  life,  without  dying  at  all. 
But  the  translation  in  those  instances  is  the  equiv- 
alent of  the  resurrection.     It  is  the  same  change 


334  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

to  incorruption  and  immortality,  not  from  the 
grave  indeed,  but  from  mortal  life,  and  so  is  in- 
cluded in  the  one  term,  which  means,  that,  to  all 
of  them  alike,  a  power  is  vouchsafed  which  strikes 
from  every  one  of  them  forever  every  vestige  of 
the  old  slavery  to  corruption,  death,  or  mortal 
disability.  Mere  living  again,  great  and  wonderful 
as  that  is,  is  the  smallest  part  of  the  matter.  By 
the  prophets,  by  Christ,  and  by  the  apostles,  some 
were  recalled  to  life,  resuscitated,  made  to  live 
again  after  they  were  dead,  and  yet  died  again  as 
men  ordinarily  die,  the  same  as  if  they  had  never 
been  recalled  from  death.  The  living  again  in 
this  case  involves  a  far  "  better  resurrection,''  even 
the  renewal  of  the  whole  corporeal  being,  refash- 
ioned to  a  heavenly  model,  with  heavenly  quali- 
ties, and  to  a  vastly  sublimer  life  than  ever  was 
enjoyed  before; — a  resurrection,  in  which  corrup- 
tion puts  on  incorruption,  dishonor  puts  on  glory, 
weakness  puts  on  power,  and  the  earthy  body  be- 
comes a  spirit  body,  lifted  quite  out  of  the  sphere 
of  the  earthly  life,  and  over  which  neither  the  first 
death  nor  the  second  has  any  further  power.  Hav- 
ing been  "  accounted  worthy  to  attain  that  world," 
they  "neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage; 
neither  can  they  die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal 
unto  the  angels  ;  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being 
the  children  of  the  resurrection."  (Luke  20  :  35,  36.) 
They  are  holy.  They  were  holy  in  their  lives 
and  aims  while  they  lived  in  the  flesh.  They  had 
"  the  testimony  of  Jesus"  and  "  the  word  of  God," 
and  confessed  it  over  against  a  gainsaying  world, 


LECTURE    XL VI.    CHAP.    20:6.  335 

and  held  it  fast  against  persecution  and  death,  and 
willingly  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  counting 
them  but  refuse  and  offal,  rather  than  let  go  their 
confession  and  hope  in  Christ  Jesus.  They  were 
the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  world, 
the  golden  candlesticks  of  eternal  truth  in  the 
realm  of  abounding  sin  and  darkness,  yet  never 
content  with  that  to  which  they  had  attained,  but 
ever  reaching  forth  unto  still  higher  and  better 
things,  and,  like  the  Olympian  racers,  pressed  to- 
ward the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God.  Reviled,  persecuted,  evil  spoken  of,  and 
accounted  the  very  offscourings  of  the  world,  be- 
cause of  their  faith,  devotion,  and  self-sacrifice  for 
their  Saviour  and  his  cause,  they  resented  not,  but 
counted  it  all  joy,  and  were  exceeding  glad,  sure 
that  it  was  woi'king  for  them  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  an  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Many  of  them 
were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance,  that  they 
might  obtain  the  better  resurrection  ;  and  others 
had  trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  of 
bonds  and  imprisonments,  were  stoned,  sawn  asun- 
der, tempted,  slain  with  the  sword,  wandered 
about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins,  being  desti- 
tute, afflicted,  tormented,  of  whom  the  world  was 
not  worthy.  But  consecrated  and  set  apart  to  God 
as  his  servants  and  lightbearers  in  their  earthly 
lifetime,  they  are  a  hundredfold  holier  now.  Re- 
leased forever  from  the  deathworking  law  in  their 
fleshly  members,  their  whole  being  has  come  un- 
der the  power  of  a  complete  and  untemptable 
sanctification,  which  sets  them  apart  and  conse- 
voL.  III.  79 


336  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

crates  them  to  a  sublime  and  unapproachable 
holiness,  to  which  dwellers  in  the  flesh  must  stand 
in  greater  awe  than  ever  was  called  for  m  tlie 
sublimest  of  earthly  kings  or  the  most  sacred  of 
Jewish  high-priests; — a  holiness  which  inspires 
while  it  awes,  which  attracts  while  it  reproves  and 
condemns,  and  which  lifts  and  assures  those  whom 
it  strikes  with  humiliation  and  dread.  When  Isaian 
saw  the  Lord  sitting  upon  his  Almighty  throne, 
and  the  seraphim  with  covered  faces  round  about 
him  saying,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  is  the  Lord  God  of 
Sabaoth,  he  fell  down  and  cried,  "  Woe  is  me  !  for 
I  am  undone;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips, 
and  dwell  among  a  people  of  unclean  lips."  (Is. 
6  :  1-5.)  And  something  of  this  same  awful  holi- 
ness is  then  to  appear  in  the  immortal  king-priests 
of  this  resurrection,  before  which  men  and  angels 
will  veil  their  eyes  in  reverence;  for  in  them  and 
through  them  God  will  set  his  glory  among  the 
nations,  and  all  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  it. 
(Ezek.  29  :  21 ;  Is.  6  :  3.)  There  is  a  great  and 
awful  majesty  of  consecration  in  a  true  child  of 
God  even  while  living  and  walking  here  in  the 
flesh.  To  the  outward  eye  and  carnal  view  there 
is  but  little  that  is  special.  The  thoughtful  brow, 
the  sober  mien,  the  dignified  behavior,  the  reserved 
and  careful  utterance,  the  keeping  aloof  from  the 
world's  wild  pleasures  and  gayeties,  and  the  solemn 
regard  for  holy  names  and  holy  things,  along  with 
a  calm  and  firm  confession  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  is  about  all  that  can  be  externally  noticed. 
But  his  name  is  in  the  books  of  heaven.     He  is 


L  E  C  T  U  K  E    X  L  V  1.    CHAP.     20  :  6.  337 

there  enrolled  as  a  celestial  citizen  and  prince. 
The  angels  are  ministers  and  servants  to  him.  He 
is  allied  by  regeneration  to  the  blood-royal  of  eter- 
nity. He  is  marked  with  the  name  and  sacrament 
of  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  and  invisible.  He  has 
upon  him  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  conse- 
crating him  for  transfiguration  to  supernal  prin- 
cipality. He  is  brother  and  joint-heir  with  Him 
who  sits  enthroned  at  the  right  hand  of  eternal 
Majesty,  and  who  is  presently  to  be  revealed  as  the 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  The  very  ground 
on  w4iich  he  treads  takes  on  sacredness  from  his 
presence.  The  Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  his  body, 
breathes  in  his  breath,  walks  in  his  steps,  and 
speaks  in  his  words.  Through  that  Saviour  in 
whom  he  trusts,  he  is  already  in  a  measure  a  di- 
vine man,  partaker  of  the  divine  nature.  All  of 
which  shall  be  made  complete,  manifest,  and  visi- 
ble when  he  comes  forth  in  the  sublime  sanctity 
of  the  First  Resurrection  ;  for  "  blessed  and  holy  is 
he  that  hath  par  tin  the  Resurrection  the  First.'^ 

Further,  they  have  very  exalted  place  and  occupa^ 
tion.  John  saw  them  seated  on  thrones.  He  be- 
held them  endowed  with  judgeship.  He  pronounces 
them  kings  and  priests.  They  share  in  the  admin- 
istrations of  government.  They  reign  with  Christ. 
Their  business  is  to  shepherdize  nations.  These 
things  all  tell  of  official  relations  and  prerogatives. 
They  are  not  mere  names  and  empty  titles.  The 
saints  know  no  sinecures.  JSTo  meaningless  cere- 
monials or  hollow  designations  find  place  in 
heaven.   IS'othino^  is  there  but  substantial  realities. 


338  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

The  children  of  the  resurrection  are  no  sham 
kings,  and  no  mock  judges,  but  everything  which 
these  high  titles  and  offices  imply.  They  are  not 
co-regents  and  co-shepherdizers  with  Christ,  with- 
out being  and  doing  what  such  words  import  and 
express.  The  dignity  is  transcendently  exalted, 
but  it  is  all  real;  and  the  reality  of  the  offices 
necessitates  the  reality  of  the  activities  which  per- 
tain to  them.  I  said  that  saintship  means  honor; 
but  saint  honor  means  duty,  activity,  work,  not  idle- 
ness, not  quiescence.  There  is  no  heaven  for  lazi- 
ness; much  less  is  heaven  made  up  of  it.  Not  for 
parade  badges,  but  for  corresponding  services,  do 
the  children  of  this  resurrection  get  their  dignities. 
As  kings,  they  are  to  fill  the  places  and  do  the 
work  of  kings.  As  judges,  they  are  to  judge  and  ad- 
minister j  ustice.  As  priest-regents,  they  are  charged 
with  the  cares  and  duties  of  royal  priesthood.  They 
not  only  have  the  name  and  place  of  sovereigns, 
but  they  reign,  as  truly  and  really  as  ever  Saul,  or 
David,  or  Solomon  reigned.  The  end  of  their  sal- 
vation is  not  to  sit  on  clouds  and  sing  psalms,  or 
to  luxuriate  in  the  idle  bliss  of  an  eternal  languor 
or  ecstasy.  They  are  redeemed  and  glorified  for 
sublime  offices  and  the  work  pertaining  to  those 
offices.  The  life  of  Christ  in  heaven  is  an  intensely 
busy  life.  He  is  administering  the  Kingdom  of 
the  universe.  When  the  present  dispensation 
ends  he  will  deliver  up  that  Kingdom  to  the 
Father,  and  enter  upon  a  new  and  particular  ad- 
ministration of  his  own,  in  which  the  children  of 
the  resurrection  are  to  be  joined  with  him,  as 
angels  are  now  associated  with  him  in  the  adminis- 


LECTURE    XLVL     CHAP.    20:6.  339 

tration  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Father,  yea,  in  a 
still  closer  union.  The  work  to  be  done  is  the 
shepherdizing  of  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron, — 
the  following  up  of  the  victory  of  the  great  day  of 
God  Almighty,  putting  in  force  the  rule  of  eter- 
nal right  and  justice  where  the  blasting  rule  of  the 
Dragon  has  so  perverted  things  and  held  disastrous 
sway  for  so  many  ages.  For  this  they  have  their 
thrones.  For  this  judgment  is  put  into  their 
hands.  For  this  they  are  lifted  high  above  all 
the  infirmities  of  mortal  life.  For  this  they  are 
perfected  in  holiness  and  invested  with  such  di- 
vine and  awful  consecration.  And  in  this  they 
have  their  honor  and  their  blessedness.  Through 
their  completed  redemption  in  Christ  Jesus  they 
come  into  such  full  harmony  with  the  mind  and 
will  of  God,  and  into  such  living  consociation 
with  their  Redeemer,  as  to  know  no  higher  dig- 
nity or  joy  than  to  fill  out  the  great  adminis- 
tration of  reducing  the  mortal  survivors  of  the 
awful  day  to  divine  order,  and  to  employ  their 
immortal  energies  in  tutoring  the  race  from  which 
they  have  sprung,  till  returned  to  that  Paradise 
from  which  it  has  been  in  exile  for  6000  years. 

These  are  quite  difierent  ideas  from  those  usu- 
ally entertained  about  heaven.  People  spiritual- 
ize and  explain  away  the  great  things  of  God's 
Revelation  until  the  whole  matter  evaporates  in 
their  hands,  and  the  true  Christian  hope  vanishes 
into  insipidity  and  nothingness.  They  make  ado 
about  getting  to  heaven,  but  have  lost  all  under- 
standing of  what  it  means.  All  the  singing,  and 
longing,   and   fond   anticipation    on   the   subject 


340 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


really  amounts  to  very  little  more  than  a  going  to 
see  Jesus,  to  meet  some  departed  friends,  and  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  some  distinguished  peo- 
ple who  once  lived.  Crowns  are  sometimes  alluded 
to,  but  they  are  only  fancy  crowns,  glittering 
shadows,  empty  dreams,  badges  without  corre- 
sponding dignities,  administrations  without  sub- 
jects, thrones  to  which  nobody  is  amenable.  They 
talk  of  rest;  but  rest  is  not  heaven,  any  more  than 
sleep  is  life.  And  the  impossibility  of  finding  re- 
alities with  which  to  fill  up  the  scriptural  images 
and  descriptions  of  the  final  portion  of  the  re- 
deemed, on  the  part  of  those  who  spiritualize  the 
First  Resurrection,  is  ample  evidence  of  their 
tremendous  mistake.  They,  in  efibct,  abolish  every- 
thing that  makes  heaven  heaven,  and  all  their  pic- 
tures of  futurity  are  simply  the  taking  of  God's 
ransomed  kings  into  a  world  of  shadows,  to  find 
their  eternal  bliss  and  ever-growing  greatness  in 
the  languor  of  songs,  or  the  dreamy  joys  of  an  end- 
less spiritual  intoxication,  all  as  impossible  as  it  is 
uninviting  to  rational  natures,  or  to  beings  invested 
with  immortal  powers.  No,  the  joys  and  honors 
of  the  children  of  the  resurrection  are,  that  they 
are  made  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  Christ, 
installed  and  endowed  as  immortal  benefactors  of 
the  nations  upon  the  earth,  the  unerring  lords, 
rulers,  and  invincible  shepherds,  of  a  renewing 
and  renewed  world,  the  everlasting  guides,  judges, 
and  potentates  of  a  redeemed  race;  So  the  word 
before  us  is;  and  to  this  outcome  all  the  promises 
in  the  Book  of  God  are  fitted. 


LECTURE  FORTY-SEVENTH. 

THE  MILLENNIUM — A  FALSE  THEORY — A  PERIOD  OF  A  THOU- 
SAND YEARS  —  ANOTHER  DISPENSATION  —  CONDITION  OF 
THINGS  THEN— ITS  BLESSEDNESS  DOES  NOT  END  WITH  THE 
THOUSAND  YEARS — THE  LOOSING  OF  SATAN — THE  REBEL- 
LION OF  GOG  AND  MAGOG  —  THE  DE^^TRUCTION  OF  THE 
REBELS — CASTING  OF  SATAN  INTO  GEHENNA — THE  GREAT 
WHITE  THRONE — ITS  OCCUPANT  —  THE  FINAL  RESURREC- 
TION AND  JUDGMENT  —  THE  BOOKS  OPENED — GRADES  OP 
PUNISHMENT — THE    LAKE   OF    FIRE. 


Rev.  20  :  7-15,  (Revised  Text.)  And  when  the  thousand  years  are 
completed,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his  prison,  and  shall  go  out  to 
lead  astray  the  nations  which  are  in  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  Gog 
and  Magog,  to  gather  them  together  into  war,  of  whona  the  number  (of 
them)  as  the  sand  of  the  sea. 

And  they  went  up  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth  [or  land\,  and  encom- 
passed the  citadel  of  the  saints  and  the  beloved  city.  And  there  came 
down  fire  out  of  the  heaven,  and  devoured  them.  And  the  Devil,  who 
leadeth  them  astray,  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where 
also  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  [are],  and  shall  be  tormented  day 
and  night  to  the  ages  of  the  ages. 

And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  the  one  sitting  upon  it,  from 
the  face  of  whom  fled  the  earth  and  the  heaven,  and  place  was  not 
found  for  them. 

And  I  saw  the  dead  ones  the  great  and  the  small  standing  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  throne,  andiooks  [or  rolls\  were  opened,  and  another  book 
[or  roll\  which  is  [that]  of  the  life  ;  and  the  dead  ones  were  judged  out 
of  the  things  written  in  the  books  according  to  the  works  of  them. 

And  the  sea  gave  the  dead  ones  in  it,  and  Death  and  Hades  gave 
the  dead  ones  in  them,  and  they  were  judged  [Codex  Sin.  were  con- 
demned] every  one  according  to  their  works. 

(341) 


342  THE    APOCALYPSl:;. 

And  Death  and  Hades  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  This  is  the 
death  the  second,  the  lake  of  fire. 

And  if  any  one  was  not  found  written  in  the  book  [or  roll]  of  the  life 
he  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 

THE  reign  of  Christ  and  his  glorified  saints  is 
a  reign  on  or  over  the  earth.  It  is  a  shepherd- 
izing  of  "the  nations,"  and  "nations"  belong 
to  the  race  of  man  in  the  flesh.  The  Living  Ones 
and  Elders  sung  of  being  made  kings  and  priests 
unto  God,  and  proclaimed  themselves  thus  or- 
dained to  "  reign  on  the  earihj'  (Chap.  5  :  10.) 

This  reign  is  to  last  a  thousand  years,  a  mil- 
lennium, a  chiliad.  Any  thousand  years  is  a  mil- 
lennium ;  but  because  of  the  peculiarities  and  pre- 
eminence of  this  particular  thousand  years,  it  has 
come  to  be  called  IVie  Millennium,  about  which 
there  is  much  unfounded  oratory  and  empty  song. 

The  prevailing  modern  doctrine  is,  that  the 
world  is  to  progress,  and  is  progressing,  towards 
a  golden  age  of  wisdom,  righteousness,  liberty, 
and  peace,  when  error,  false  worship,  vice,  wicked- 
ness, oppression,  and  all  anti-christianism,  will 
be  effectually  eradicated,  and  all  nations  and 
peoples  brought  under  the  sway  of  a  purified 
and  all-governing  Christianity;  that  this  is  to 
be  accomplished  by  the  gradual  advancement  of 
civilization,  science,  reforms,  political  revolutions, 
the  spread  of  liberality,  beneficence,  and  Christian 
principles,  and  the  revival  of  the  churches  in  de- 
votion and  missionary  zeal,  helped  by  increased 
measures  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  such  providen- 
tial directions  of  human  aflairs  as  may  augment 
the  efficiency  of  the  appliances  we  now  have ;  and 


LECTURE    X  L  V  1 1.    CHAP.    20  :  7  -  15.  343 

that  this  is  the  consummation  for  which  all  Chris- 
tians are  to  look,  labor,  and  pray,  as  the  glorious 
outcome  of  this  world's  history.     This  men  call 
The  Millennium^  and  about  this  they  dream,  and 
sing,  and  preach.     You  will  find  it  in  nearly  all 
the  popular  teachings  of  our  times,  just  as  I  have 
stated  it.     That  it  involves  some  dim  elements  of 
truth,  may  be  admitted ;  but  they  are  so  sadly  dis- 
ficrured  and  overlaid  as  to  make  out  of  them  a 
system  of  very  faulty  philosophy,  manipulated  into 
an  article  of  faith,  wholly  unknown  to  the  Church 
in  the  first  thousand  years  of  its  existence,  and  as 
much  an  invention  of  man  as  the  Eomish  dogmas  of 
the  immaculate  conception  and  the  Pope's  infalli- 
bility. It  is  certainly  not  taught  in  any  respectable 
creed  in  Christendom.     It  is  not  to  be  found  in 
any  of  the  Church's  books  of  devotion,  liturgies, 
hymnals,  or  accepted  songs,  for  the  first  fifteen 
centuries,  including  the  period  of  its  greatest  pu- 
rity and  faithfulness.     All  the  great  confessions, 
either  by  implication  or  direct  specification,  are 
adverse  to  it,  and  unconstruable  with  it.    The  old 
theologians,  such  as  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Calvin, 
Knox,  Hutter,  Ilunnins,  Quenstedt,  and  even  the 
Wcsleys,   are  against  it.     Daniel   Whitby,    who 
died  in   1726,  by  whom  mainly  it  was  brought 
into  vogue,  ofi'ered  it  to  the  consideration  of  the 
learned  as  only  a  hypothesis,  which  he  considered 
new  in  his  day.     And  the  Scriptures  everywhere, 
on  every  principle  of  just  interpretation,  negative 
and  contradict  it.     The  Church,  in  its  very  name 
and  divine  designation,  is  an  Ecclesia,  a  body  called 


344  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

out  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  with  the  majoritj' 
ever  outside  of  itself.  By  every  saying  and  fore- 
showing of  the  Saviour,  it  lies  under  the  cross  for 
the  whole  period  of  its  earthly  career,  and  from 
that  state  is  never  lifted  this  side  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. The  tares  and  the  wdieat  occupy  the  same 
field,  and  both  grow  together  till  the  harvest, 
which  is  the  end  of  the  age,  the  termination  of 
the  present  dispensation.  Everywhere  the  last 
days  are  painted  as  the  worst  days,  and  men  as 
waxing  worse  and  worse  till  the  end  comes.  And 
all  the  precepts  and  admonitions  divinely  given  to 
the  Church  with  reference  to  the  coming  again  of 
the  LDrd  Jesus,  are  such  as  to  render  it  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  be  kept  by  any  people  of  any  gen- 
eration believing  that  a  thousand  years  would  have 
to  pass  before  that  coming  could  take  place.  I 
therefore  arraign  all  such  teaching  as  full  of  chili- 
astic  error,  and  as  one  of  those  subtle,  plausible, 
but  delusive  insinuations  of  the  great  deceiver,  by 
which  God's  people  are  beguiled  from  the  truth 
to  his  ruinous  lies. 

I.  I^otice  then  the  Scriptural  teachings  with  re- 
gard to  what  is  called  the  Millennium. 

l.'It  is  a  period  of  "a thousand  years,'^  dating 
from  the  overthrow  of  the  Beast  and  his  confeder- 
ates, in  the  battle  of  the  great  day  of  God  Al- 
mighty, the  casting  of  him  and  the  False-Prophet 
into  the  lake  of  fire,  and  the  binding  and  locking 
up  of  Satan  in  the  Abyss.  I  understand  these  to 
be  literal  years,  the  same  as  all  other  dates  given 


LECTURE    XL  VI  I.    C  H  A  P.   20  ;  7  -  15.  345 

in  this  Book.  The  year-day  interpreters,  to  be 
consistent  with  themselves,  mnst  needs  lengthen 
out  this  period  to  at  least  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  years,  which  is  a  most  astonishing  elon- 
gation of  the  ^' Utile  while'^  and  the  ^^ quickly ^^  in 
which  Christ  promised  thiit  he  would  come  again. 

2.  These  thousand  years  begin  only  after  this 
present  w^orkl,  aLwv^  age,  or  dispensation  is  closed. 
The  intent  of  the  Church  period  is  stated  to  be  the 
gathering  together  of  an  elect,  the  taking  out  of  a 
people  for  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  development 
and  qualification  of  a  particular  number  of  the 
human  family  to  be  Christ's  immortal  king-priests. 
That  object  being  attained,  all  the  present  arrange- 
ments terminate.  There  is  not  a  command  to 
preach,  make  disciples,  baptize,  observe  the  Eu- 
charistic  supper,  or  anything  else  peculiar  to  the 
Church,  which  is  not  limited  in  its  own  specific 
terms  to  the  coming  again  of  Christ  to  avenge 
his  people,  and  judge  his  enemies.  Such  a  coming 
was  shown  us  before  the  introduction  of  these 
thousand  years;  but  no  such  coming  is  shown  us 
at  their  termination.  A  fiery  judgment  is  there, 
and  a  great  white  throne  of  terrific  adjudication 
upon  the  unholy  dead,  but  not  a  word  about  any 
coming  of  Christ  either  for  or  with  his  people,  any 
gathering  together  of  his  elect,  any  taking  of  the 
eagle  watchers  to  where  he  is,  any  coming  as  he 
was  seen  going  up  from  Mount  Olivet,  or  any 
coming  whatever.  The  fact  that  the  saints  appear 
on  thrones,  in  the  blessedness  and  holiness  of 
resurrection  life  and  glory,  at  the  beginning  of 


346  ^HE    APOCALYPSfi.'. 

this  period,  and  that  they  reign  through  it,  demon* 
strates  that  Christ's  coming  to  raise  his  saints  to 
glory,  give  them  their  rewards,  and  thus  end  this 
dispensation,  has  then  ah-eady  taken  place.  This 
Millennium,  therefore,  lies  altogether  on  thefurther 
side  of  that  occurrence;  and  the  present  Church, 
so  far  from  finding  an  earthly  blooming  time  in  it, 
does  not  get  into  it  at  all,  except  in  the  immortal 
kinghoods  and  priesthoods  of  the  children  of  the 
resurrection. 

3.  The  so-called  Millennium  brings  with  it  an 
altogether  different  dispensation  from  that  under 
which  we  now  live.  During  the  whole  course  of 
the  present  order  of  things,  Satan  is  loose  and  ac- 
tive in  his  work  of  leading  astray  ;  but  he  is  bound, 
locked  up  in  the  Abyss,  and  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  world  at  all,  either  personally,  or  with  any 
of  his  agents,  for  all  this  thousand  years.  The 
great  work  and  office  of  the  Church  now  is  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  and  to  wit- 
ness for  Christ  to  an  adverse  and  gainsaying  world; 
but  there  is  not  one  word  said  about  any  such 
office  in  mortal  hands  during  all  that  long  period. 
In  its  stead,  however,  there  is  to  be  a  shepherd- 
izing  of  the  nations  w^ith  a  rod  of  iron,  an  authori- 
tative and  invincible  administration  of  right  and 
justice  on  the  part  of  immortal  king-priests,  and  a 
potent  disciplining  of  men  and  nations  far  beyond 
anything  w4iich  the  mere  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
ever  has  wrought  or  ever  was  intended  to  do  for 
earthly  society.  Now  the  sovereignty  of  the  earth 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  Dragon,  moulded  by  his  in- 


LECTURE    XLVIL     CHAP.    20:7-15.  347 

fiuence,  and  not  at  all  under  the  command  of 
saints ;  but  then  it  is  to  be  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  the  Lord  of  lords  and  his  immortal  king-priests. 
Now  we  can  only  beseech  men  in  Christ's  stead  to 
be  reconciled  to  God ;  then  they  will  be  compelled 
to  take  the  instructions  given  them,  to  serve  with 
fear  and  rejoice  with  trembling,  to  kiss,  give 
the  required  adoration  to  the  Sou,  or  perish  from 
the  way.  (Ps.  2  :  10-12.)  Now  it  is  left  to  men's 
option  to  serve  God  or  not,  with  nothing  to  inter- 
fere with  their  choice  but  the  judgment  to  come; 
then  they  will  be  obliged  to  accept  and  obey  his 
laws,  or  be  smitten  and  blasted  on  the  spot. 

The  present  is  the  period  of  God's  mercy  and 
long-suffering;  that  will  be  the  period  of  prompt 
and  rigid  administration,  when  sentence  against 
an  evil  work  will  be  executed  speedily.  Now  the 
dutiful  and  obedient  are  obliged  to  suffer,  to  en- 
dure manifold  wrongs,  and  to  wait  for  their  reward 
till  the  resurrection  of  the  just;  but  "then  shall 
the  righteous  flourish "  in  proportion  to  their 
righteousness,  and  they  "shall  go  forth  and  grow 
up  as  calves  of  the  stall,"  "  and  the  work  of  right- 
eousness shall  be  peace,  and  the  effect  of  righteous- 
ness quietness  and  assurance  for  ever."  (Is.  32  :  17.) 
Now  it  is  a  hard  and  self-sacrificing  thing  to  be  a 
saint,  justly  made  hard  because  of  the  transcendent 
dignity  and  glory  to  be  gained ;  but  then  the  diffi- 
culty and  hardship  will  be  on  the  other  side,  so 
that  people  can  scarcely  help  being  what  they 
ought  to  be,  and  sin  will  be  embarrassed  with 
greater  disadvantages  than  a  life  of  faith  has  ever 


348  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

been.  Thus,  in  every  particular,  the  dispensation 
of  things  will  then  be  wholly  changed  from  what 
it  is  now. 

4.  The  general  condition  of  the  earth,  and  man 
upon  it,  will  then  also  be  vastly  improved.  We 
cannot  speak  with  definiteness;  but  all  the  inti- 
mations show  that  this  whole  terrestrial  economy 
will  then  be  far  on  in  the  process  of  that  "  regen- 
eration" and  renewal  of  w^hich  the  Saviour  speaks 
(Matt.  19 :  28),  and  in  which  ''the  creation"—"  the 
whole  creation" — "shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God."  (Rom.  8  :  21, 22.)  Great 
and  mighty  changes  in  the  configuration  of  the 
earth  were  shown  in  the  visions  of  the  judgment- 
time  preceding  this  thousand  years, — changes  in 
the  relations  of  sea  and  land, — changes  in  the 
mountains,  hills,  and  islands, — changes  in  the  at- 
mospheric heavens, — changes  in  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars, — changes  which  must  needs  alter  the 
whole  climate,  fruitful ness,  and  habitability  of  the 
earth.  As  it  is  the  time  when  "  God  shall  judge 
the  people  righteously  and  govern  [shepherdize] 
the  nations  upon  earth,"  so  it  is  the  time  when 
"  the  earth  shall  yield  her  increase,"  and  when  the 
nations  shall  "be  glad  and  sing  for  joy."  (Ps.  77.) 
As  it  is  the  time  when  "  the  Lord  bindeth  up  the 
breach  of  his  people,"  so  it  is  the  time  when 
"  rivers  and  streams  of  waters  shall  be  upon  every 
high  mountain  and  every  hill,"  and  "  the  increase 
of  the  earth  shall  be  fat  and  plenteous,"  and  "  the 
light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun, 


LECTURE    XLVII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  349 

and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the 
light  of  seven  days."  (Isaiah  30  :  18-26.)  The 
physical  condition  of  man  will  be  greatly  amelior- 
ated. "  The  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick." 
(Is.  33  :  24.)  Life  will  be  wonderfully  prolonged. 
"  There  shall  be  no  more  thence  an  infant  of  days, 
nor  an  old  man  that  hath  not  filled  his  days." 
One  dying  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  years  will  die 
so  young  only  as  a  judgment  for  sin,  and  will  be 
accounted  as  having  died  a  child  at  that  great  age. 
The  days  of  a  man  are  to  be  as  the  days  of  a  tree, 
as  in  the  antediluvian  world.  (See  Isaiah  65 :  20-23.) 
Indeed  we  read  of  no  deaths  during  this  thou- 
sand years,  except  those  which  occur  by  reason  of 
transgression  and  disobedience.  The  population 
of  the  world  will  have  been  greatly  thinned  down 
by  the  various  judgments,  removals,  and  plagues 
which  precede  this  Millennium  ;  but  ^'  instead  of 
the  fathers  shall  be  the  children,  who  may  be 
made  princes  in  all  the  earth"  (Ps.  45: 16) ;  and  a 
blessed  and  happy  fruitful ness  shall  be  upon  the 
race  of  humanity,  as  well  as  in  the  whole  system 
of  nature,  so  that  by  the  end  of  the  thousand 
years,  even  the  remote  corners  of  the  world  will  be 
able  to  muster  people  as  multitudinous  as  the  sands 
of  the  sea.  It  will  not  yet  be  the  eternal  state, 
called  "  the  new  earth,"  in  which  there  is  no  more 
sin,  nor  death,  nor  curse,  nor  tears  ;  but  it  will  be 
a  mighty  stride  toward  it,  and  the  stage  next  to  it. 
The  mental,  moral,  social,  and  political  condition 
of  the  people  who  then  live  will  necessarily  be  like 
heaven  itself,  compared  with  the  order  of  things 


350  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

which  now  prevails ;  for  they  shall  be  shepherded 
by  Jesus  and  his  immortal  co-regents,  and  "  the 
deaf  shall  hear  the  words  of  the  book,  and  the  eyes 
of  the  blind  shall  see  out  of  obscurity  and  dark' 
ness;  the  meek  also  shall  increase  their  joy  in  the 
Lord,  and  the  poor  among  men  shall  rejoice  in  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel  "  (Is.  29  :  18, 19);  "and  wisdom 
and  knowledge  shall  be  the  stability  of  the  times 
and  the  strength  of  salvations/'  (Is.  33:6.) 

6.  The  ending  of  this  period  will  not  be  the  end- 
ing of  the  blessedness  which  it  introduces.  The 
years  terminate,  but  what  it  begins  to  realize  of 
the  new  heavens  and  earth  abides.  What  marks 
the  end  of  the  thousand  years,  and  distinguishes 
it  from  the  years  that  succeed,  is  not  a  cessation 
of  the  heavenly  order  that  has  been  established. 
Christ  and  his  saints  do  not  then  cease  to  reign 
over  the  nations.  Men  do  not  cease  to  live  in  the 
flesh.  The  kingdom  come  does  not  then  recede, 
or  cease  to  be  the  same  enduring  and  everlasting 
kingdom.  The  earth  is  not  disturbed  in  that 
wherein  it  has  advanced  toward  its  complete  "  re- 
generation." But  that  which  marks  the  end  of 
the  thousand  years,  and  divides  it  off  from  the 
eternal  state  which  follows,  is  the  letting  of  Satan 
loose  again  for  a  little  time,  the  testing  of  the 
loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  nations  which  have 
experienced  these  high  favors,  the  rebellion  of 
Gog  and  Magog,  the  destruction  of  the  rebels  by 
fire  from  heaven,  the  casting  of  Satan  into  the 
final  hell,  the  calling  up  of  all  the  wicked  dead  to 
judgment  and  final  doom,  and  the  putting  forth  of 


LECTURE    XL  VII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  35I 

what  further   touches   are  requisite  to    complete 
"  the  restitution  of  all  things." 

11.  [N'otice  then  more  particularly  what  immedi- 
ately follows  this  thousand  years. 

1.  The  Devil  is  let  loose.  He  who  lets  him  loose 
is,  of  course,  the  same  who  bound  him,  and  sealed 
him  in  the  prison  of  the  Abyss.  God  uses  even 
the  wickedest  of  beings,  and  overrules  the  worst 
depravity,  to  his  own  good  and  gracious  ends.  He 
allows  Satan  liberty,  and  denies  him  liberty,  and 
gives  him  liberty  again,  not  because  the  Devil  or 
the  Devil's  malice  is  necessary  to  him,  but  to  show 
his  power  to  bring  good  out  of  evil,  to  make  even 
the  worst  of  creatures  praise  him,  and  to  turn  their 
very  wickedness  to  the  furtherance  of  the  purposes 
they  would  fain  defeat. 

It  seems  like  a  great  pity,  after  the  world  has 
rested  for  a  thousand  years,  that  this  arch-enemy 
of  its  peace  should  again  be  let  loose  upon  it.  But 
there  seems  to  be  some  sort  of  necessity  for  it. 
The  statement  to  John  was,  that  **he  must  be 
loosed  a  little  time"  (v.  3).  Some  interest  of 
righteousness  and  moral  government  renders  it 
pro[)er  that  he  should  be  allowed  this  last  lim- 
ited freedom.  If  for  nothing  else,  it  is  not  unim- 
portant that  he  should  have  this  opportunity  to 
prove  how  little  an  imprisonment  of  a  thousand 
years  had  served  to  change  him,  or  reform  his 
malignity.  Even  the  Devil  is  granted  a  final 
trial  to  make  a  better  record  to  himself,  if  so 
minded.     But  neither  judgment  nor  mercy  has 

VOL.  III.  80 


352  '^ns    APOCALYPSE. 

the  least  effect.  He  is,  and  remains  to  the  last, 
the  same  depraved  and  wicked  being,  and  employs 
even  the  little  time  of  freedom  before  he  is  cast 
into  perdition  in  tempting,  seducing,  and  deceiv- 
ing the  happy  and  peaceful  world.  Perhaps,  too, 
it  was  necessary  for  the  millennial  nations  to  be 
taught  that,  even  after  having  been  so  far  re- 
deemed as  to  live  a  thousand  years  of  holy  obedi- 
ence, they  still  are  unable  to  stand  without  the 
special  help  and  grace  of  Almighty  God.  At  any 
rate,  this  brief  period  of  Satan's  last  freedom 
proves,  that  he  is  still  Satan,  and  that  man  is  still 
man,  after  a  thousand  years  of  bonds  and  imprison- 
ment for  the  one,  and  a  thousand  years'  experi- 
ence of  next  thing  to  Paradise  for  the  other;  the 
Devil  being  just  as  eager  to  tempt  and  deceive, 
and  man  liable  to  be  tempted  and  deceived.  Nor 
can  it  be  of  small  account  to  the  after  ages,  or  for 
the  generations  to  whom  it  is  foretold,  that  the 
full  demonstration  of  these  facts  should  be  made 
before  things  are  finally  settled  into  the  eternal 
state.     Hence  Satan  is  let  loose  for  a  little  time. 

2.  He  seduces  Gog  and  Magog  into  rebellion.  He 
does  not  send  forth  this  time  to  "  the  king^s  of  the 
earth,"  for  there  are  then  no  mortal  kings  to  be 
led  astray,  but  he  goes  direct  to  the  people,  in- 
sinuates his  malice  against  the  rule  under  which 
the  King  of  kings  has  placed  the  nations,  and  seeks 
to  persuade  them  into  an  attempt  to  overthrow  it. 
To  those  who  dwell  in  the  outskirts  and  darker 
places  of  the  earth,  he  wends  his  sullen  way.  He 
made  his  lirst  attempt  iu  Eden  by  assailing  the 


LECTURE    XLVII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  353 

weaker  and  more  compliant  vessel ;  and  this  is  his 
method  in  his  last. 

Just  who  Gog  and  Magog  are  we  may  not  be 
able  to  tell.  A  thousand  years  of  uninterrupted 
peace  and  prosperity  are  likely  to  make  great 
changes  in  the  distribution  and  locations  of  peoples. 
But  the  allusion  to  the  "corners  of  the  earth''  as 
the  regions  whence  these  rebels  come,  sufficiently 
indicates  that  they  are  among  the  hindermost  of 
peoples  and  the  least  advanced  and  cultured 
among  the  millennial  nations.  It  has  taken  more 
than  a  thousand  years  to  develop  the  civilization 
which  marks  the  better  portions  of  the  present 
population  of  the  globe ;  and  a  thousand  years, 
even  of  millennial  tutelage,  would  not  avail  to 
bring  up  the  darker  and  more  degraded  sections 
to  a  very  exalted  height.  And  among  these  ruder 
peoples  Satan  finds  the  pliant  materials  for  a  new 
and  last  revolt.  Jerome  and  Theodoret  identify 
Gog  and  Magog  with  "  the  Scythian  nations,  fierce 
and  innumerable,  who  live  beyond  the  Caucasus 
and  th^  lake  Mseotis,  and  near  the  Caspian  Sea, 
and  spread  out  even  onward  to  India."  The  Koran 
does  the  same,  and  represents  them  as  barbarians 
of  the  Korth,  who  are  somehow  restrained  until 
the  last  period  of  the  world,  when  they  are  to 
swarm  forth  toward  the  South  in  some  great  preda- 
tory irruption,  only  to  be  hurled  into  Gehenna  fire. 
It  is  doubtfuJ.  whether  we  can  get  beyond  this  by 
any  ethnic  or  geographic  inquiries  in  the  present 
state  of  human  knowledge.  It  is  also  questionable 
whether  this  post-millennial  Gog  and  Magog  are 


354  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  sam^  described  by  EzekieL  (37  : 1-14.)  They 
may  be  the  same,  or  the  one  may  be  the  type  of 
the  otb'^r;  but  in  either  case  the  reference  is  to 
peoples  lying  outside  of  the  more  civilized  world, 
among  whom  the  old  Devil  influence  lingers 
longest,  and  hence  the  most  susceptible  to  these 
new^  instigations.  At  least  Satan  succeeds  in  ren- 
dering them  dissatisfied  with  the  holy  rule  of  God's 
glorified  saints,  and  induces  them  to  believe  that 
they  can  successfully  throw  it  off  and  crush  it  out, 
as  the  deluded  kings  under  the  Antichrist  were 
persuaded  a  thousand  3'ears  before.  How  he  does 
this  we  are  not  told;  but  under  him  they  come 
forth  in  swarming  myriads,  enter  the  same  holy 
land,  and  compass  about  the  citadel  of  the  saints 
and  the  beloved  city,  in  the  vain  hope  of  wresting 
the  dominion  from  its  immortal  possessors. 

3.  A  terrible  disaster  ensues.  A  madder  thing 
than  Gog  and  Magog's  attempt  was  never  under- 
taken upon  earth.  It  is  simply  a  march  into  the 
jaws  of  death,  for  no  rebellion  against  the  kings 
who  then  hold  the  reins  of  government  can  be 
tolerated.  The  insane  war  is  quickly  terminated. 
One  brief  sentence  tells  the  fearful  story;  "  77iere 
came  down  fire  out  of  the  heaven  and  devoured  themj^ 
When  Israel  was  encamped  in  the  wilderness, 
a  guard  of  Levites  was  set  about  the  tabernacle, 
and  the  command  to  them  was :  '*  The  stranger  that 
coraeth  nigh  shall  be  put  to  death.''  (Numb.  1 :  61.) 
So  a  guard  of  immortal  king-priests  keep  the  ways 
to  the  throne  and  temple  of  Jehovah  in  that  day, 
and  the  presumptuous  dupes  oi'  Satan's  last  decep^ 


LECTURE    XL  VI  I.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  355 

tion  who  dare  to  approach  with  hostile  intent, 
are  instantly  hurled  to  a  liery  destruction.  Not  a 
man  of  them  escapes. 

4.  Satan  meets  his  final  perdition.  He  was  impris- 
oned in  the  Abyss  before ;  but  he  is  now  "  cast 
into  the  lake  of  lire  and  brimstone,  where  also  the 
Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  [are]."  When  the 
Saviour  was  on  earth,  he  discoursed  to  his  dis- 
ciples about  an  "  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the 
Devil  and  his  angels.''  (Matt.  25:41.)  This  is  it; 
and  this  is  the  time  when  he  for  whom  it  is  pre- 
pared first  feels  those  terrific  flames. 

Thus  ends  the  last  rebellion  ever  seen  upon  this 
planet, — the  last  sin,  and  the  last  deaths,  that  ever 
occur  in  this  dwelling-place  of  man. 

III.  Notice  now  what  happens  to  "  the  rest  of 
the  dead,"  who  did  not  have  part  in  the  first 
resurrection. 

1.  A  great  white  throne  appears,  A  similar  throne 
was  beheld  by  John  at  the  commencement  of  the 
great  judgments  which  precede  the  Millennium. 
(Rev.  4  :  2-6.)  That  was  set  in  the  heaven  ;  where 
this  is  set  we  are  not  told.  That  had  a  rainbow 
over  it,  to  indicate  fulfilment  of  covenant  promises; 
this  is  naked,  for  it  has  no  hopes  to  offer,  no  cove- 
nant of  good  to  fulfil.  Out  of  that  proceeded 
lightnings,  thunders,  and  voices,  indicative  of 
revolutionary  judgments  upon  the  living  world; 
to  this  nothing  is  ascribed  but  greatness  and  whiie- 
nesSj  indicative  of  immeasurable  power,  and  of 
pure,  complete,  unmingled,  and  invincible  justice. 


356  '^^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

There  is  no  more  probation  on  the  part  of  those 
against  whom  its  adjudications  issue,  and  hence  no 
further  threatenings  of  coming  judgment,  as  in 
li2:htnino:s  and  thunder.  Around  that  first  throne 
were  sub-thrones,  occupied  by  associate  judges? 
and  with  it  were  conjoined  Living  Ones,  taking 
part  in  the  administrations,  for  they  are  varied 
and  mingled,  both  as  to  kinds  and  subjects,  and 
many  find  occupation  in  them  ;  here  the  throne  is 
one  only,  for  the  administration  is  of  but  one  kind, 
summary,  direct,  and  having  respect  to  but  one 
class.  Seven  burning  torches,  representing  the 
seven  Spirits  of  God,  were  with  that  throne,  be- 
cause its  adjudications  were  to  be  partly  gracious 
and  remedial,  as  well  as  retributive,  toward  those 
with  whom  it  dealt ;  this  is  accompanied  with 
nothing  gracious,  for  its  dispensations  are  purely 
retributive,  and  only  damning  to  what  they  strike. 
That  throne  had  before  it  a  glassy  sea,  pure  and 
crystalline,  like  a  grand  celestial  pavement,  indic- 
ative of  a  place  of  blessed  heavenly  refuge,  for  it 
was  about  to  exalt  many  to  glory;  here  there  is 
no  celestial  landing-place,  no  platform  of  heavenly 
peace,  for  it  has  no  salvations  to  dispense.  In 
connection  with  the  first  throne  there  was  singing, 
joyful  exultation,  the  giving  of  mighty  praises  to 
God  and  the  Lamb,  for  it  was  the  setting  in  of  an 
administration  which  was  to  bring  saints  to  their 
consummated  redemption  and  rewards;  here  there 
is  not  a  song,  not  a  voice  of  gladness,  not  a  note  of 
exultation,  for  it  is  simply  and  only  the  adminis- 
tration of  retributive  justice,  which  consigns  the 


LECTURE    XL  VII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  357 

uiisanctified  to  their  final  perdition,  and  which  has 
nothing  whatever  of  gladness  about  it. 

The  presentations  in  both  instances  correspond 
to  the  proceedings  issuing  from  them,  and  the  one 
helps  to  explain  the  other.  Indeed  they  are  coun- 
terparts of  one  another, — the  right  hand  adminis- 
trations and  the  left  hand  administrations,  the 
morning  and  the  evening,  of  the  great  Day  of 
Judgment  viewed  as  a  whole. 

2.  This  throne  has  an  awful  Occupant.  Of  course 
it  is  the  same  beheld  in  the  first  instance.  There 
is  no  name,  no  figure,  no  shape,  in  either  case; 
but  only  an  awful,  mysterious,  and  composed 
presence,  which  can  be  nothing  less  than  the  One, 
unnamable,  indescribable,  eternal  Godhead.  If 
it  were  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  simply  as  the  God- 
man,  he  would  appear  in  some  definite  form,  as 
in  every  other  instance.  He  is  indeed  the  Judge, 
to  whom  all  judgment  is  committed,  and  he  does 
the  judging  in  this  instance  ;  but  he  does  it  under 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  enthroned  Godhead  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not 
as  the  absolute  and  eternal  King  over  all  things. 
In  the  first  instance,  the  Sitter  on  the  throne  had 
a  particular  appearance, — an  appearance  like  to 
a  jasper  and  a  sardine  stone,  a  reddish,  crys- 
talline brilliancy,  like  pure  and  smokeless  flames, 
attractive  even  in  its  awfulness ;  here  there  is 
nothing  but  the  naked  presence  of  almightiness, 
BO  dreadful  that  the  very  earth  and  heavens  seem 
to  flee  into  nothingness  before  it.  The  earth  and 
heaven  do  not  literally  fly  away  and  disappear. 


358 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Similar  language  was  used  in  chapter  6  :  14;  but 
the  earth  still  continued  afterwards.  And  here,  in 
the  subsequent  verses,  the  sea  is  still  in  its  place; 
and  in  the  next  chapters  nations  are  still  found 
inhabiting  the  earth.  (21  :  24;  22  :  2.)  It  is  simply 
the  intensification  of  the  description  of  the  awful- 
ness  and  majesty  of  the  Sitter  upon  the  throne 
that  is  thus  expressed,  signifying  that  almightiness 
by  which  all  the  creations  and  changes  in  the 
universe  are  effected,  and  who  here  assumes  his 
eternal  power  to  dispose  of  his  enemies  forever, 
and  to  put  the  last  finishing  touches  upon  the  great 
re-genesis  of  things.  And  this  infinite,  repellent 
awfulness  is  a  further  indication  that  there  is  ab- 
solutely nothing  of  hope  for  those  objects  on  which 
the  adjudications  now  fall. 

3.  A  resurrection  occurs.  No  trumpet  is  sounded; 
for  the  sounding  of  the  trumpet  is  for  those  in 
covenant  with  the  King,  as  his  armies  and  friends; 
but  these  are  not  his  people  nor  his  friends.  There 
is  simply  the  going  forth  of  eternal  power,  into 
the  sea,  into  the  graves,  into  Hades,  into  all  the 
depositories  of  the  souls  and  bodies  of  the  unholy 
dead,  and  all  the  vast  multitudes  in  them  suddenly 
stand  in  the  presence  of  the  throne.  E'ot  one  of 
them  that  ever  lived  and  died,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  till  then,  save  and  except  the 
Beast  and  the  False  Prophet,  but  is  in  that  un- 
blest  congregation.  "  The  great  and  the  small,'* 
the  big  sinners  and  the  little  sinners,  rulers 
and  subjects,  nobles  and  plebeians,  the  learned 
and  the   ignorant,  the   refined    and   the   vulgar, 


LECTURE    XLVII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  359 

the  civilized  and  the  barbarous,  emperors  and 
beggars,  all  alike  are  there.  We  read  of  no 
white  robes,  no  spotless  linen,  no  palms,  nothing 
but  naked  sinners,  before  the  naked  majesty  of 
enthroned  Almightiness,  awaiting  their  eternal 
doom. 

4.  Books  are  opened.  Heaven  keeps  record  of 
all  the  deeds  of  men,  and  of  all  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  under  which  they  act.  Myriads  of  hu- 
man beings  have  lived  and  died  of  whom  the 
world  knows  nothing;  but  the  lives  they  lived, 
the  deeds  they  wrought,  the  thoughts  and  tempers 
they  indulged,  still  stand  written  where  the  mem- 
ory of  them  cannot  perish.  ITot  a  human  being 
has  ever  breathed  earth^s  atmosphere  whose  ca- 
reer is  not  traced  at  full  length  in  the  books  of 
eternity.  Yes,  O  man  !  0  woman  !  whoever  you 
may  be,  your  biography  is  written.  An  unerring 
hand  has  recorded  every  item,  with  every  secret 
thing.  There  is  not  an  ill  thought,  a  mean  act,  a 
scene  of  wrong  in  all  your  history,  a  dirty  trans- 
action, a  filthiness  of  speech,  or  a  base  feeling  that 
ever  found  entertainment  in  your  heart,  but  is 
there  described  in  bold  hand,  by  its  true  name, 
and  set  down  to  your  account,  to  be  then  brought 
forth  for  final  settlement,  if  not  clean  blotted  out 
through  faith  in  Christ's  blood  before  this  present 
life  of  yours  is  ended.  And  if  no  other  books  are 
to  be  thought  of,  the  book  of  your  own  conscience, 
and  the  book  of  God's  remembrance,  will  then  and 
there  attest  your  every  misdeed  and  ill-desert. 
Think,  ye  that  fear  not  God,  and  make  nothing 


360  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  trampling  his  laws,  how  your  case  will  stand 
when  those  books  are  opened  ! 

But  there  is  "  another  book,  which  is  that  of  the 
life^^' — the  roll-book  of  the  regenerate  in  Christ 
Jesus, — the  register  of  the  washed  and  sanctilied 
through  faith  in  his  redeeming  blood.  This  must 
needs  be  opened  too ;  for  many  there  be  whose 
lives  are  fair  and  honest,  who  spend  their  days  in 
conscientious  purity,  who  live  and  die  in  the  per- 
suasion that  they  have  fulfilled  all  the  require- 
ments of  virtue,  but  who  have  never  experienced 
the  regenerating  power  of  the  new  creation,  who 
have  never  felt  the  need  of  atonement  by  the  pro- 
pitiation of  a  crucified  Saviour,  and  who  have  dis- 
dained to  build  on  the  merit  and  righteousness  of 
the  one  only  Mediator  as  the  sole  hope  of  diseased 
and  guilty  humanity.  Exalted  as  they  may  have 
been  in  their  own  goodness  and  morality,  they 
have  not  believed  on  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God, 
and  therefore  have  not  life,  and  so  are  not  written 
in  the  book  of  life.  The  records  of  their  own 
deeds  is  therefore  not  enough  for  the  determina- 
tion of  their  proper  place  and  standing.  Men 
may  appear  well  in  these,  and  still  not  be  prepared 
to  pass  the  final  inquisition.  There  is  another  and 
still  mightier  question  in  the  case,  and  that  is 
whether  they  have  come  to  a  regenerate  and  spirit- 
ual life  throus^h  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  Therefore 
the  book  of  life  must  be  opened  too,  and  its  testi- 
mony brought  into  the  decision.  If  the  name  of 
any  one  is  not  on  that  roll,  no  matter  how  virtu- 
ously and  honestly  he  may  have  lived,  there  is  no 


LECTURE    XLVII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  361 

help  for  him;  for  only  "he  that  believeth  on  the 
Son  hath  everlasting  life."  (Jno.  3  :  36.) 

5.  But  judgment  is  given  as  the  works  have  beeyi. 
There  is  just  gradation  in  the  sorrows  of  the  lost, 
as  well  as  in  the  rewards  of  the  righteous.  If 
there  is  anything  in  any  case  to  modify  the  guilt 
of  sinners,  or  in  any  measure  to  paliate  their  de- 
ficiencies and  crimes,  the  plain  intimation  is  that 
every  just  allowance  shall  be  made.  Though  all 
the  finally  condemned  go  into  one  place,  they  do 
not  all  alike  feel  the  same  pains,  or  sink  to  the 
same  depths  in  those  dreadful  flames.  But  the 
mildest  hell  is  nevertheless  hell,  and  quite  too  in- 
tolerable for  any  sane  being  to  be  content  to  make 
experiment  of  it. 

The  j  udgment  of  these  people  according  to  these 
books  is,  in  each  instance,  a  judgment  of  condem- 
nation, whether  to  the  lesser  or  the  greater  dam- 
nation. There  is  no  account  of  the  name  of  any 
one  of  them  being  found  in  the  book  of  life ;  "  and 
if  any  one  was  not  found  written  in  the  book  of 
the  life,  he  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire."  Not 
one  of  them  is  adjudged  place  with  the  "blessed 
and  holy,"  or  his  resurrection  would  not  have  been 
deferred  till  now.  And  the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  one 
of  the  very  oldest  and  best  of  the  ancient  manu- 
scripts of  the  mw  Testament,  here  reads:  "The 
sea  gave  the  dead  ones  in  it,  and  Death  and  Hades 
gave  the  dead  ones  in  them,  and  they  were  con- 
demned, EVERY  one,  according  to  their  deeds." 

6.  And  sentence  is  followed  with  immediate  execution. 
When  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  were  taken, 


362  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

thej  "were  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire  which 
burneth  with  brimstone."  (Chap.  19 :  20.)  A  thou- 
sand years  afterward,  when  Satan  proved  himself 
the  same  deceiver  he  always  was,  he  "  was  cast 
into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone."  And  into 
that  same  "  lake  of  fire  "  all  the  condemned  ones 
in  this  judgment  are  hurled.  What  that  'Make  of 
fire"  is  I  cannot  tell,  I  do  not  know,  and  I  pray 
God  that  I  may  never  find  out.  That  it  is  a  place, 
everything  said  about  it  proves.  People  in  cor- 
poreal life,  as  these  condemned  ones  are,  must 
needs  have  locality.  That  it  is  a  place  of  woe, 
pain,  and  dreadful  torment,  is  specifically  stated, 
and  is  the  chief  idea  in  every  image  of  the  descrip- 
tion. What  God  adjudges  a  just  punishment  for 
the  wickedness  of  the  great  head  of  all  evil,  for 
having  ruined  many  of  the  sublimest  creatures  in 
heaven,  and  for  the  mischiefs,  impieties,  and  deso- 
lations wrought  in  our  world  by  more  than  six 
thousand  years'  unremitted  exertions  against  the 
peace  of  man  and  the  gracious  purposes  of  God, 
certainly  must  involve  a  length,  and  breadth,  and 
depth,  and  height  of  misery  at  which  the  universe 
may  well  stand  aghast.  He  who  understands  it 
best,  calls  it  "a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,"  and  I 
do  not  know  what  mortal  man  can  tell  us  better. 
If  perchance  it  be  not  material  fire,  or  the  brim- 
stone which  feeds  it  be  not  the  article  which  com- 
merce handles,  it  still  is  fire  of  some  sort,  fed  with 
its  proper  fuel,— ^re  which  can  take  hold  on  body 
and  spirit,— j^Ve  which  preys  on  the  whole  being, 
whether  clothed  with  corporeity  or  not^—fire  kin^ 


LECTURE    XL  VII.    CHAP.    20:7-15.  3^3 

died  and  kept  alive  hy  almighty  justice,  and  a 
great  lake  of  it,  commensurate  viuth  tlie  infinite 
holiness  of  an  infinite  law.  It  is  called  "  The  Second 
Death."  Hence  some  think  it  means  extinction  of 
existence,  annihilation,  a  cremation  of  body  and 
spirit,  which  leaves  no  ashes  after  it.  But  the 
Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  were  in  that  death 
for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  at  the  end  of 
that  time  the  implication  seems  to  be  that  they  are 
still  alive.  Concerning  those  who  are  compelled 
to  make  proof  of  that  death,  the  specific  statement 
is,  "  they  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night,  to  the  ages 
of  the  ages.''  This  does  not  look  like  either  anni- 
hilation or  final  restoration.  Nor  is  Death  an  ex- 
tinction of  all  existence.  The  first  death  is  a  kill- 
ing of  the  body,  a  mutilation  of  the  being,  but  not 
an  extinction  of  it.  If  death  is  the  equivalent  of 
annihilation,  then  these  resurrected  ones  are  con- 
demned and  punislied  for  the  crimes  and  defects 
of  some  other  beings  than  themselves,  and  are  not 
the  people  who  did  what  is  written  in  these  books. 
The  first  death  is  a  terrible  mutilation  and  degra- 
dation, especially  to  a  wicked  man  ;  though  not  a 
blotting  out  of  his  being  and  identity.  "The 
Second  Death  "  must  needs  be  still  more  terrible 
and  disastrous,  for  it  is  a  more  inward  fret ;  but 
not  therefore  a  reduction  to  absolute  nothinsfness. 
Angels  are  regarded  in  all  theology  as  immortal 
by  inherent  constitution  ;  yet  wicked  angels  are 
under  the  horrors  of  this  Second  Death.  The 
children  of  the  better  resurrection  are  "  as  the  an- 
gels of  God  /'  so  these  partakers  of  the  "  resurrec- 


364  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

tion  of  damnation"  are  as  the  Devil  and  his  angels. 
If"  the  lake  of  fire"  is  not  annihilation  to  one,  so 
neither  is  it  to  the  other.  But  it  is  Death,  and  it 
is  torment ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  it  is  eternal.  It  is  "  to  the  ages  of  the  ages." 
Confirmed  depravity  cannot  be  cured  where  no 
means  of  grace  are;  neither  can  those  cease  to  sin 
whose  whole  nature  has  been  turned  to  sin.  And 
if  there  can  be  no  end  of  the  sinning,  how  can 
there  be  an  end  of  the  suffering?  Remorse  cannot 
die  out  of  a  spirit  ever  conscious  of  its  self-imposed 
damnation  !  Therefore,  "  their  ivorm  dieth  not,  and 
the  fire  is  not  quenched.'"  (Mark  9  :  44,  48.) 

And  Death  and  Hades,  here  viewed  as  if  they 
were  personal  beings,  share  the  same  fate.  They, 
of  course,  cease  to  be.  There  is  nothing  more  of 
temporal  death  or  of  the  place  of  departed  spirits 
after  this.  They  are  not  personal  beings,  hence 
their  casting  into  "the  lake  or  fire"  is  the  end  of 
them;  but,  conceived  of  as  persons,  they  are  con- 
signed to  exactly  the  same  eternal  punishment 
with  the  other  wicked.  They  are  the  products  of 
sin,  and  they  share  the  doom  of  what  produced 
them.  And  thus,  in  an  ever-burning  Hell,  from 
which  there  is  no  more  deliverance,  all  the  ene- 
mies of  Grod  and  his  Christ  find  themselves  at 
last. 

And  now,  in  the  presence  of  these  awful  verities, 
what  shall  I  say  to  those  who  know  it  all,  yet  go 
deliberately  on  in  ways  which  can  have  no  outcome 
but  this  Second  Death  ?  I  look  at  them,  and  think ; 
and  the  terribleness  of  their  hallucination  paralyzes 


LECTURE    X  L  V  I  I.    CHAP.     20  :  7  -  15.  3^5 

n^j  utterance.  I  would  fain  arouse  them  to  their 
better  senses;  but  when  I  speak  my  intensest 
words  seem  but  ashes  in  my  mouth  in  comparison 
with  the  alarum  for  which  their  situation  calls. 

Ho,  ye  unbelieving  men, — ye  dishonest  men, — 
ye  profane  men, — ye  lewd  men  and  women, — ye 
slaves  of  lust  and  appetite, — ye  scoffers  at  the  truth 
of  God, — "  How  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell  V* 
(Matt.  23 :  3/).)  Ye  men  of  business, — ^ye  whose 
souls  are  absorbed  with  the  pursuit  of  gain, — ye 
people  of  wealth  without  riches  toward  God, — ye 
passengers  on  the  voyage  of  life,  without  prayer, 
without  Church  relations,  without  concern  for 
your  immortal  good,  your  God,  or  the  eternity  be- 
fore you, — hear  :  "  Sell  hath  enlarged  her  self y  and 
opened  her  moidh  iviihoid  measure,  and  your  glory, 
and  your  multitude,  and  your  pomp,  and  your  rejoicing, 
shall  de&cend  into  itP''  (Is.  5  :  14.)  Ye  almost  Chris- 
tians, lingering  these  many  years  on  the  margin  of 
the  Kingdom,  looking  in  through  the  gates,  but 
never  quite  ready  to  enter  them,  intending  but 
never  performing,  often  wishing  but  still  postpon- 
ing, hoping  but  without  right  to  hope, — the  appeal 
is  to  you  :  ^^  How  shall  ye  escape  if  ye  neglect  so  great 
salvation  ?  "  (II(5b.  2  :  2-4.)  And  ye  who  call  your- 
selves Christians  but  have  forgotten  your  cove- 
iiant  promises, — ye  Terahs  and  Lot's  wives,  who 
have  started  out  of  the  place  of  sin  and  death  but 
liesitate  halfway,  and  stay  to  look  back, — ye  bap- 
tized Elymases,  and  Judases,  and  Balaams,  who, 
through  covetousness  and  feigned  words  make 
merchandise  of  the  grace  of  God, — see  ye  not  that 


2QQ  THE    APOGALYPSE. 

"  your  judgment  now  of  a  long  time  lingereth  not,  and 
your  damnation  slumber etk  not  I"  (2  Pet.  2  :  3.)  And 
if  there  be  any  one  oblivious  or  indifferent  toward 
these  great  matters, — asleep  amidst  the  dashing 
waves  of  coming  retribution, — the  message  is  to 
you:  "  What  meanest  thou,  0  sleeper?  Arise,  call 
upon  thy  God,  if  so  be  that  God  shall  think  upon  thee^ 
that  thou  perish  not  /"  (Jon.  1 :  6.)  For  if  any  one 
be  not  found  written  in  the  Boolv  of  Life,  he  must 
be  swallowed  up  by  the  Lake  of  Fire. 


LECTURE  FOETY-EIGHTH. 

PERPETTJITY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  THE  RACE  OF  MAN — "END 
OF  THE  WORLD  "  NOT  THE  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  EARTH — 
CONTINUOUS  GENERATIONS — THE  REDEEMED  WORLD — THE 
SCENE  OF  IT — THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  IT— THE  OCCUPANTS 
OF   IT. 


Rev.  21  : 1-8.  (Revised  Text.)  And  I  saw  heaven  new  and  earth 
new  :  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  are  gone,  and  the  sea  no 
longer  is. 

And  I  saw  the  city,  the  holy,  new  Jerusalem  coming  down  out  of  the 
heaven  from  God,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband. 

And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne,  saying,  Behold,  the 
Tabernacle  of  God,  with  the  men  [or  mayikind],  and  he  shall  tabernacle 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  he,  the  God  with  them, 
shall  be  their  God. 

And  God  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their  eyes  j  and  death 
shall  no  longer  be,  neither  sorrow,  neither  crying,  neither  pain,  shall 
any  longer  be  ;  because  the  first  things  are  gone. 

And  the  Sitter  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  new  I  make  everything. 
And  he  saith.  Write,  because  these  words  are  faithful  and  true. 

And  he  said  to  me.  They  are  accomplished.  I  am  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  End.  I  to  him  that  thirsteth  will 
give  out  of  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  the  life  freely.  He  that  over- 
cometh  shall  inherit  these  things;  and  I  will  be  God  to  him,  and  he 
shall  be  son  to  mo  ;  but  the  cowardly,  and  unbelieving,  and  polluted, 
and  murderous,  and  fornicators,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all 
the  false,  their  part  [shall  inherit]  in  the  lake  burning  with  fire  and 
brimstone,  which  is  the  death  the  second. 

TTUMANITY  was  created  and  constituted  a  self- 
-*■-*-  multiplying  order  of  existence, — a  race, — to 
which  this  earth  was  given  as  its  theatre,  posses- 
sion, and  happy  home.  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image ;  male  and  female  created  he  them, 
VOL.  III.  81  (  367  ) 


368  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  said  to  them,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and 
replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it,  and  have  do- 
minion over  it.  When  sin  first  touched  man,  it 
found  him  thus  constituted  and  domiciled.  Had 
the  spoliations  of  sin  never  disturbed  him,  hu- 
manity, as  a  race,  must  needs  have  run  on  forever, 
and  been  the  happy  possessor  of  the  earth  forever. 
Anything  else  would  be  a  contravention  and 
nullification  of  the  beneficent  Creator's  intent 
and  constitution  with  regard  to  his  creature  man. 
Meanwhile  came  the  fall,  through  the  Serpent's 
malignity;  and  then  a  promise  of  redemption  by 
the  Seed  of  the  woman.  If  the  nature  of  the  fall 
was  to  destroy  the  existence  of  man  as  a  race,  and 
to  dispossess  him  of  his  habitation  and  mastery  of 
the  earth,  the  nature  and  efiect  of  the  redemption 
must  necessarily  involve  the  restitution  and  per- 
petuation of  the  race,  as  such,  and  its  rehabili- 
tation as  the  happy  possessor  of  the  earth;  for  if 
the  redemption  does  not  go  as  far  as  the  conse- 
quences of  sin,  it  is  a  misnomer,  and  fails  to  be  re- 
demption. The  salvation  of  any  number  of  indi- 
viduals, if  the  race  is  stopped  and  disinherited,  is 
not  the  redemption  of  what  fell,  but  only  the  gath- 
ering up  of  a  few  splinters,  whilst  the  primordial 
jewel  is  shattered  and  destroyed,  and  Satan's  mis- 
chief goes  further  than  Christ's  restoration. 

I  therefore  hold  it  to  be  a  necessary  and  integral 
part  of  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  human  redemp- 
tion, that  our  race,  as  a  self-multiplying  order  of 
beings,  will  never  cease  either  to  exist  or  to  pos- 
sess the  earth. 


LECTURE    XLVIir.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  369 

There  is  a  notion,  bred  from  the  morbid  imagin- 
ation of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  has  given  birth 
to  many  a  wild  poetic  dream,  which  has  much  in- 
fluenced the  translators  of  our  English  Bible, 
w^hich  has  unduly  tainted  religious  oratory,  song, 
and  even  sober  theology,  and  which  still  lingers  iu 
the  popular  mind  as  if  it  were  an  article  of  the 
settled  Christian  creed,  that  the  time  is  coming 
when  everything  that  is,  except  spiritual  natures, 
shall  utterly  cease  to  be,  the  earth  consume  and 
disappear,  the  whole  solar  and  sidereal  system  col- 
lapse, and  the  entire  physical  universe  vanish  into 
nothingness.  How  this  can  be,  how  it  is  to  be 
harmonized  with  the  promises  and  revealed  pur- 
poses of  God,  wherein  it  exalts  the  perfections  of 
the  Deity,  there  is  not  the  least  effort  to  show. 
The  thing  is  magniloquently  asserted,  and  that  is 
quite  enough  for  some  people's  faith,  though  sense, 
reason,  and  Revelation  be  alike  outraged. 

There  is  indeed  to  be  an  ^^end  of  ike  worlds  The 
Bible  often  refers  to  it.  But  men  mistake  when 
they  suppose  the  world  spoken  of  in  such  passages 
to  be  the  earth  as  a  planet.  Three  different  words 
have  our  translators  rendered  '^  world  :'^  yq,  which 
means  the  earth  proper,  the  ground,  this  material 
orb  which  we  inhabit;  xoaiioq,  which  means  what 
constitutes  theinhabitableness,  the  ornamentation, 
beauty,  cultivation,  external  ov^qv,  fashion  of  the 
world,  but  not  the  substance  of  the  earth  as  a  ter- 
raqueous globe ;  and  aiwv,  which  is  used  more  than 
one  hundred  times  in  the  New  Testament,  but 
always  with  reference  to  time,  duration,  eras,  dis- 


g70  TH^    APOCALYPSE. 

pensations, — a  stage  or  state  marking  any  par- 
ticular period,  long  or  short,  past,  present,  or 
future, — the  course  of  things  in  any  given  instance, 
rather  than  the  earth  or  any  theatre  on  which  it  is 
realized.  It  may  be  earth  or  heaven,  time  or  eter- 
nity, a  material  or  an  immaterial  world,  it  is  all 
the  same  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  atcou,  which 
denotes  simply  the  time-measure  and  character- 
istics of  that  particular  period  or  state  to  which  it 
is  applied.*  And  this  is  the  word  used  in  all  those 
passages  which  speak  of  "  the  end  of  the  world.'' 


*  "  The  word  atav  appears  originally  to  have  denoted  the  life 
which  hastes  away  in  the  breathing  of  our  breathy  life  as  transitory^ 
then  the  course  of  life^  in  general,  life  in  its  temporal  form, — an 
age  or  generation — a  space  of  time,  course  of  time^  time  as  moving, 
— time  so  far  as  history  is  accomplished  in  it.  It  always  in- 
cludes a  reference  to  the  life,  filling  time,  or  a  space  of  time,  as 
scecidum  denotes  the  time  in  which  life  passes." — Cremer's5i6- 
lico-  Theological  Lexicon  of  New  Testament. 

"  Koa-fAoc  is  the  world,  mundus,  in  its  wide  extension ;  etm,  the 
age,  scBculum,  the  present  world,  in  its  distinguishing  character, 
its  course,  and  the  estimate  to  be  formed  of  it." — James  Bryce 
in  Bengel's  Gnomon,  Eph.  2 :  2. 

"  A:cev  in  its  primary  sense  signifies  time,  short  or  long,  in  un. 
broken  duration  ;  essentially  time  as  the  condition  under  which 
things  exist,  and  the  measure  of  their  existence.  All  that  float- 
ing mass  of  thoughts,  opinions,  maxims,  speculations,  hopes, 
impulses,  aims,  at  any  time  current  in  the  world,  which  it  is 
impossible  to  seize  and  accurately  define,  but  which  constitute 
a  most  real  and  effective  power,  being  the  moral  or  immoral 
atmosphere  which  at  every  moment  of  our  lives  we  inhale, 
again  inevitably  to  exhale, — all  this  is  included  in  the  a/av."— 
Trench's  Synonyms  of  New  Testament,  second  series,  pp.  38-40. 
It  therefore  refers  to  something  altogether  different  from  the 
substance  of  the  earth  as  a  planet. 


LECTURE    XLVIII.    C  U  A  P.    21:1-8.  371 

It  is  not  the  end  of  the  earth,  but  the  end  of  a 
particular  time,  age,  condition,  or  order  of  things, 
with  the  underlying  thought  of  other  orders  of 
things,  and  perpetual  continuity  in  other  forms 
and  ages,  ^ons  end,  times  change,  the  fashion 
of  the  world  passeth  away, — but  there  is  no  in- 
stance in  all  the  Book  of  God  which  assigns  an 
absolute  termination  to  the  existence  of  the  earth 
as  one  of  the  planets,  or  any  other  of  the  great 
sisterhood  of  material  orbs. 

So  in  those  passages  which  speak  of  the  passing 
away  of  the  earth  and  heavens  (see  Matt.  5  :  18,  24, 
34,  35;  Mark  13:30,  31;  Luke  16:17,  21,  33; 
2  Pet.  3:10;  Rev.  21:1),  the  original  word  is 
never  one  which  signifies  termination  of  existence, 
but  Ttapepxofiat,  which  is  ft  verb  of  very  wide  and 
general  meaning,  such  as  to  go  or  come  to  a  person, 
place,  or  point;  to  pass,  as  a  man  through  a  bath, 
or  a  ship  through  the  sea ;  to  pass  from  one  place 
or  condition  to  another,  to  arrive  at,  to  go  through; 
to  go  into,  to  come  forward  as  if  to  speak  or  serve. 
As  to  time,  it  means  going  into  the  past,  as  events 
or  a  state  of  things  once  present  giving  place  to 
other  events  and  another  state  of  things.  That  it 
implies  great  changes  when  applied  to  the  earth 
and  heavens  is  very  evident;  but  that  it  ever 
means  annihilation,  or  the  passing  of  things  out  of 
being,  there  is  no  clear  instance  either  in  the  Scrip- 
tures or  in  classic  Greek  to  prove.  The  main  idea 
is  transition  not  extinction. 

Some  texts,  particularly  as  they  appear  in  our 
FugUsh  Bible,  express  this  change  very  strongly, 


372  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

as  where  the  earth  and  heavens  are  spoken  of  as 
perishing^  being  dissolved^  fly^^S  ciway  (Is.  34:4; 
54;10;  Rev.  6:  14;  20:10);  but  the  connections 
show  that  the  meaning  is  not  cessation  of  being, 
but  simply  the  termination  or  dissolution  of  the 
present  condition  of  them  to  give  place  to  a  new 
and  better  condition.  At  least  one  such  perishing 
of  the  earth  has  already  occurred.  Peter,  speak- 
ing of  the  earth  and  heavens  of  Noah's  time,  says: 
"  The  world  that  then  was  being  overflowed  vjtth  water y 
PERISHED."  (2  Pet.  3 :  5,  6.)  But  what  was  it  that 
perished?  Not  the  earth  as  a  planet,  certainly; 
but  simply  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  the  con- 
dition of  things  which  then  existed,  whilst  the 
earth  and  race  continued,  and  have  continued  till 
DOW.  Equally  strong  expressions  are  used  with 
regard  to  the  destruction  or  passing  away  of  the 
old  in  the  case  of  one  born  again  to  newness  of  life 
in  Christ  Jesus;  but  no  one  therefore  supposes 
that  tlie  bringing  of  a  man  from  Satan  to  God  is 
the  annihilation  of  him.  It  is  simply  the  change  of 
his  condition  and  relations.  And  so  in  the  case 
of  the  earth  and  heavens;  for  the  same  word  which 
describes  the  change  in  the  individual  man  is  used 
to  describe  the  change  to  be  wrought  in  the  material 
world.  It  is  regeneration — naXiyyeveaia — in  both  in- 
stances (Matt.  29 :  28 ;  Tit.  3  :  5),  and  therefore  not 
the  putting  out  of  existence  in  either  case.  The 
dissolving  of  which  Peter  is  made  to  speak,  is  really 
a  deliverance  rather  than  a  destruction.  The  word 
he  uses  is  the  same  which  the  Saviour  employs  where 
he  says  of  the  colt,  "  Loose  him  ;''  and  of  Lazarus 


LECTURE    XL  VII  I.    CHAP.     21  :1 


373 


when  be  came  forth  with  his  death-wrappings, 
'•^ Loose  him,  and  let  him  go;''  and  of  the  four  an- 
gels bound  at  the  Euphrates,  '*  Loose  them;"  and 
of  the  Devil,  "  He  must  be  loosed  a  little  season." 
It  is  the  same  word  which  John  the  Baptist  used 
when  he  spoke  of  his  unworthiness  to  unloose  the 
Saviour's  shoestrings,  and  which  Paul  used  when 
he  spoke  of  being  "  loosed  from  a  wife."  It  is 
simply  absurd  to  attempt  to  build  a  doctrine  of 
annihilation  on  a  word  which  admits  of  such  appli- 
cations. The  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  is,  that 
the  creation  is  at  present  in  a  state  of  captivity, 
tied  down,  bound,  "not  willingly,  but  by  reason 
of  him  who  hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope;" 
and  the  dissolving  of  all  these  things,  of  which 
Peter  speaks,  is  not  the  destruction  of  them,  but 
the  breaking  of  their  bonds,  the  loosing  of  them,  the 
setting  of  them  free  again  to  become  what  they 
were  originally  meant  to  be,  their  deliverance. 
(Compare  Romans  8 :  19-23.)  And  as  to  the  flying 
or  passing  away,  of  which  John  speaks,  a  total  dis- 
appearance of  all  the  material  worlds  from  the 
universe  is  not  at  all  the  idea;  for  he  tells  us  that 
he  afterwards  saw  "  the  sea "  giving  up  its  dead, 
the  E"ew  Jerusalem  coming  down  "  out  of  the 
heaven^''  the  Tabernacle  of  God  established  among 
men,  and  "  nations"  still  living  and  being  healed 
by  the  leaves  of  the  Tree  of  Life. 

Great  changes  in  the  whole  physical  condition 
of  the  earth  and  its  surrounding  heaven  are  every- 
where indicated;  but  the  idea  of  the  extinction  of 
the  material  universe  amid  "  the  wreck  of  matter 


374  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  the  crush  of  worlds,"  is  nothing  but  a  vulgar 
conceit,  without  a  particle  of  foundation  in  nature, 
reason,  or  Scripture.*  Things  have  no  more  ten- 
dency to  annihilation  than  nothing  has  a  tendency 
to  creation.  There  is  no  evidence  that  a  single 
atom  of  matter  has  ever  been  annihilated,  whence 
analogy  would  infer  that  such  a  thing  is  not  at  all 
in  the  will  or  purpose  of  God.  On  the  contrary, 
the  teaching  of  Revelation  is,  that  "  one  genera- 
tion passeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh; 
but  The  Earth  abideth  forever:'  (Ecc.  1:4;  Ps. 
15:5;  119:90.)  Whatever  new  cataclysms  or 
disasters  are  yet  to  befall  this  planet,  we  are  assured 
that  they  will  not  be  ay  destructive  even  as  Noah's 
flood;  for  God  covenanted  then,  and  said  :  "  I  will 

^  The  subject  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  earth  was  under  con- 
sideration in  a  clerical  association  some  years  ago,  when  one 
of  the  members  pronounced  all  such  ideas  wholly  unscripturalj 
and  said  the  word  of  God  is  full  of  passages  which  prove  that  the 
earth  is  to  be  utterly  destroyed,  so  that  it  will  no  more  be.  Ho 
was  pressed  to  point  out  even  one.  He  then  referred  to  Psalm 
46  :  2 :  "  Therefore  will  we  not  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed." 
This,  he  said,  proved  conclusively  that  the  earth  is  to  pass  away 
altogether.  He  was  asked  to  read  a  little  further,  when  he  gave 
the  parallelism,  ^^  and  though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea."  To  which  the  remark  was  somewhat  face- 
tiously, but  very  effectively,  made,  "  Brother,  that  don't  appear 
to  be  anything  more  than  a  large  landslide."  The  positive  ob- 
jector had  no  more  passages  to  produce. 

Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  in  his  Geology  and  Revelation  (p.  161),  says  : 
"  I  cannot  but  feel  astonished  that  any  serious  and  intelligent 
man  should  have  his  mind  fettered  with  the  common — I  might 
call  it  the  vulgar — notion  of  a  proper  destruction  of  the  earth. 
I  confess  myself  unable  to  find  any  evidence  for  it  in  nature, 
reason,  or  Scripture." 


LECTURE   XLVIII.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  375 

not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for  mart's  sake^ 
neither  will  I  again  smite  any  more  every  living  thing ^ 
as  I  have  doneJ'  (Gen.  8:  21,  22.)  It  is  specifically 
promised  that  "  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth," 
and  that  "the  righteous  shall  dwell  in  it  forever." 
(Matt.  5:5;  Ps.  37  :  9,  11,  29 ;  Is.  60 :  21 ;  Rom. 
4  :  13.)  And  if  the  righteous  are  to  inhabit  it  for- 
ever, it  mast  exist  forever.  The  kingdom  of  which 
Daniel  prophesied  is  to  be  an  everlasting  kingdom, 
which  shall  stand  forever.  That  kingdom  is  lo- 
cated "  under  the  whole  heaven,"  and  takes  in 
among  its  subjects  "  peoples,  nations,  and  lan- 
guages," and  has  its  seat  upon  the  earth.  (Dan. 
2 :  44  ;  7 :  14,  27.)  But  if  the  earth  is  to  have  an 
indestructible  kingdom,  it  must  itself  be  indestruc- 
tible. John  describes  the  sovereignty  of  this 
world  as  finally  assumed  by  the  Lord,  even  Christ, 
who  is  to  hold  and  exercise  it  to  the  ages  of  the 
ages.  (Rev.  11 :  15.)  But  how  can  Christ  reign  for- 
ever in  a  world  which  is  presently  to  cease  to  be  ? 
God  has  specifically  and  repeatedly  covenanted 
and  promised  a  certain  portion  of  the  earth  to  a 
certain  people  for  "  an  everlasting  possession " 
(Gen.  48),  in  which  they  are  to  "  dwell,  even  they, 
and  their  children,  and  their  children's  children, 
forever'^  (Ezek.  37:25),  and  not  cease  from  being 
a  nation  before  him  forever  (Jer.  31:36).  How 
can  this  be  fulfilled  if  the  earth  is  to  be  anni- 
hilated ? 

There  is  also  a  peculiar  consecration  upon  the 
earth  which  makes  it  revolting  to  think  of  its 
being  handed  over  to  oblivion.     The  footsteps  of 


376  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  Son  of  God  upon  its  soil,  the  breathing  of  its 
atmosphere  bj  his  lungs,  the  saturation  of  its 
mould  with  his  sweat,  and  tears,  and  blood,  the 
wearing  of  its  dust  upon  his  sacred  person,  the 
warming  of  its  fluids  in  his  arteries,  ought  to  be 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  neither  the  Devil  nor 
destruction  shall  ever  possess  it.  It  is  the  place 
where  God's  only  begotten  Son  was  born  and 
reared,  and  where  he  taught,  and  slept,  and  suf- 
fered, and  died.  It  is  the  territory  on  which  Di- 
vine Love  and  Mercy  have  poured  out  the  cost- 
liest sacrifice  the  universe  has  ever  known.  It  is 
the  chosen  theatre  of  the  most  momentous  deeds 
that  ever  attracted  the  adoring  interest  of  angels. 
It  has  furnished  the  death-place,  the  grave,  the 
scene  of  the  bruising  and  the  triumpli  of  Jesus 
Christ.  And  how  can  it  ever  be  delivered  over  to 
everlasting  nothingness?  Perish  what  may,  a 
world  so  consecrated  can  never  be  blotted  out,  or 
cease  to  be  one  of  the  most  cherished  orbs  in  God's 
great  creation. 

And  with  the  continuity  and  redemption  of  the 
earth,  goes  the  perpetuation  and  redemption  of 
the  race.  For  why  is  the  one  continued  if  not  for 
the  other?  As  surely  as  "the  earth  abideth  for- 
ever,''  so  surely  shall  there  be  eternal  generations 
upon  it.  Paul  speaks  with  all  boldness  of  "  the 
generations  of  the  age  of  the  agesJ^  (Eph.  3 :  21.) 
After  the  termination  of  the  present  ^on,  he  con- 
templates many  more  -<^ons,  even  an  -^on  of 
^ons;  and  those  interminable  years  he  fills  up 
with  generations  and  generations.     The  covenant 


LECTURE    XLVIII.     CHAP.    21:1-8.  377 

which  God  made  with  lN"oah,aiid  all  living  things, 
the  sign  and  seal  of  which  still  appears  in  almost 
every  summer  shower,  is,  by  its  own  terms,  unend- 
ing in  duration;  but  that  duration  is  at  the  same 
time  described  as  filled  in  with  imceaswg  genera- 
tions. (Gen.  8  :  22,  23 ;  9  :  8-16.)  Joel  tells  of  gen- 
erations and  o^enerations  for  Jerusalem  throus^h 
all  that  ^'forever''  in  which  cleansed  and  ransomed 
Judah  is  to  dwell  in  the  covenanted  land.  (Joel 
a  :  20,  21 ;  Ezek.  37  :  25,  26.)  Eternal  generations 
were  certainly  provided  for  when  humanity  was 
originally  constituted  and  made  the  possessor  and 
lord  of  earth;  eternal  generations  certainly  would 
have  been  the  effect  of  God's  constitution  and  com- 
mands had  sin  not  come  in  to  interfere  with  the 
wonderful  creation  ;  and  as  surely  as  Christ's  re- 
demption-work is  commensurate  with  the  ruinous 
effects  of  the  fall,  eternal  generations  must  necessarily 
be.  Earth  and  multiplying  man  upon  it  surely 
would  never  have  passed  from  living  fact  into  mere 
legend  had  sin  never  come  in.  Much  less,  then, 
can  they  now  pass  into  mere  legend,  since  the  new 
and  more  costly  expenditures  of  redeeming  love 
have  been  superadded  to  the  original  gifts  of  cre- 
ative wisdom  and  beneficence. 

We  thus  reach  the  underlying  foundations  and 
background  of  the  sublime  presentations  of  the 
text.  The  Apostle  here  beholds  the  final  redemp- 
tion of  our  earth  and  race,  the  restitution  of  all 
things  accomplished,  the  damages,  disorders  and 
spoliations  of  sin  repaired,  the  glorious  picture  of 
The  Eedeemed  World. 


378  THE    APOCALYPSE. 


I.   Observe  the  Scene  of  that  World. 

''^Heaven  new ;" — not  blotted  out ;  not  swept  into 
nothingness;  but  retouched,  changed,  renovated, 
cleansed,  and  brightened  up  from  all  its  old  disor- 
ders and  imperfections.  The  heaven  over  us  now  is 
very  charming  and  beneficent.  How  beautiful  and 
blessed  the  never-ceasing  procession  of  sun,  and 
moon,  and  stars,  and  clouds,  and  seasons,  and 
days,  and  nights,  and  showers,  intermingled  as 
they  are  with  heat  and  cold,  storm  and  calm, 
gloom  and  brightness!  This  old  garment  of 
things  is  still  full  of  rejoicing,  and  glory,  and 
scenes  and  themes  to  touch,  inspire,  and  lift,  and 
discipline,  and  make  glad  the  heart.  What,  then, 
will  that  new  investment  be,  to  which  it  is  to  give 
place!  We  cannot  describe  the  meteorology  of 
that  new  heaven  ;  but  it  will  be  a  heaven  which 
no  more  robes  itself  in  angry  tempests  and  men- 
acing blackness ;  nor  ever  flashes  with  the  thun- 
derbolts of  wrath  ;  nor  casts  forth  plagues  of  hail; 
nor  rains  down  fiery  judgment ;  nor  gives  lurking- 
place  to  the  Devil  and  his  angels ;  nor  is  disfigured 
with  dread  portents  ;  nor  is  subject  to  commotions 
breeding  terror  and  disaster  to  the  dwellers  under 
them.  We  often  look  at  the  blue  sky  that  arches 
over  us,  at  the  rosy  morning's  welcome  to  the  king 
of  day,  at  the  high  noon's  flood  of  brightness,  at 
the  mellow  glories  of  the  setting  sun,  at  the  sol- 
emn midnight  lit  all  over  with  its  twinkling  star- 
gems,  and  we  are  thrilled  with  the  perfection  and 


LECTURE    XL  VI II.     CHAP.    2i:l-8.  379 

beauty  of  Jehovah's  works.  What,  then,  shall  it 
be  when  the  great  Architect,  set  to  do  honor  to 
the  love  and  faithfulness  of  his  only  begotten  Son, 
shall  put  forth  his  hand  upon  it  the  second  time, 
to  renew  it  in  a  fresh  and  eternal  splendor! 

"  And  Earth  new.''  The  earth  now  is  full  of  ail- 
ments and  disorders,  and  in  deep  captivity  to  cor- 
ruption, yet  it  has  much  attractiveness.  Most 
men  v/ould  prefer  to  stay  in  it  forever,  if  they 
could.  Ah,  this  homestead  of  our  fathers  for  so 
many  generations,  carpeted  with  green  and  flowers, 
waving  with  pleasant  harvests  and  shady  trees, 
girded  with  glorious  mountains,  gushing  with 
water-springs,  gladdened  with  laughing  brooks, 
ribboned  with  rivers  that  wind  in  beauty  about 
the  rocky  promontories,  varied  with  endless  hills 
and  valleys,  and  girthed  about  with  the  crystal 
girdle  of  the  ruffled  seas, — these  numerous  zones, 
and  continents,  and  islands, — theseyouthful  spring- 
times bursting  out  with  myriad  life  under  all  their 
dewy  steps, — these  blazing  summer  glories, — these 
gorgeous  mellow  autumns, — these  winters,  with 
their  snowy  vestments,  and  glazed  streams,  and 
glowing  firesides, — and  living  I^ature  in  its  ten 
thousand  forms,  singing, and  dancing,  and  shouting, 
and  frisking,  and  rejoicing  all  around  us, — what 
pictures,  and  memories,  and  histories,  and  legends, 
and  experiences  have  we  here,  to  warm  our  hearts, 
and  stir  our  souls,  and  wake  our  tongues,  and  put 
fire  and  enthusiasm  into  our  thoughts,  and  words, 
and  deeds  !  But  this  is  only  the  old  earth  in  its 
soiled  and  work-day  garb,  where  the  miseries  of 


380  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

a  deep,  dark,  and  universal  apostasy  from  God 
holds  sway.  Think,  then,  what  its  regeneration 
must  bring! — an  earth  which  no  longer  smarts 
and  smokes  under  the  curse  of  sin, — an  earth 
which  needs  no  more  to  be  torn  with  hooks  and 
irons  to  make  it  yield  its  fruits, — an  earth  where 
thorns  and  thistles  no  longer  infest  the  ground, 
nor  serpents  hiss  among  the  flowers,  nor  savage 
beasts  lay  in  ambush  to  devour, — an  earth  whose 
sod  is  never  cut  w^ith  graves,  whose  soil  is  never 
moistened  with  tears  or  saturated  with  human 
blood,  whose  fields  are  never  blasted  with  unpro- 
pitious  seasons,  whose  atmosphere  never  gives 
wings  to  the  seeds  of  plague  and  death,  whose 
ways  are  never  lined  with  funeral  processions,  or 
blocked  up  with  armed  men  on  their  way  to  war, 
— an  earth  whose  hills  ever  flow  with  salvation, 
and  whose  valleys  know  only  the  sweetness  of 
Jehovah's  smiles, — an  earth  from  end  to  end,  and 
from  centre  to  utmost  verge,  clothed  with  the  eter- 
nal blessedness  of  Paradise  Restored  ! 

And  the  Sea  new,  for  I  take  the  specification  of  it 
here  the  same  as  in  the  third  commandment, 
where  it  is  said,  "In  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is." 
(Ex.  20  :  11 ;  also  Rev.  10  :  6.)  It  is  not  mentioned 
to  indicate  for  it  a  diflerent  fate  from  that  of 
heaven  and  earth,  but  because  it  is  so  conspicuous 
and  peculiar  a  part  of  them.  The  sea  is  not 
heaven,  neither  is  it  earth;  hence  in  God's  enu- 
meration of  the  first  creation-work  he  mentions 
heaven,  earth,  and  sea  ;  and  so  in  the  new  creation- 


■LECTURE    XLVIII.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  3gl 

work,  we  have  again  heaven,  earth,  and  sea.  It  is 
the  literal  sea,  just  as  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
are  literal;  but  the  non-existence  affirmed  of  it  is 
the  same  that  is  affirmed  of  the  first  heaven  and 
the  first  earth.  In  other  v^ords,  it  undergoes  the 
same  Palingenesia  which  they  undergo,  and  comes 
forth  a  new  sea,  the  same  as  the  old  heaven  and 
earth  come  forth  a  new  heaven  and  earth.  There 
is  renewal,  but  no  annihilation. 

Some  say  there  was  no  sea  in  the  pristine  con- 
dition of  the  world,  and  hence  none  will  be  in  the 
finally  redeemed  world.  But  they  are  mistaken 
in  both  instances.  The  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
tells  of  the  formation  of  the  seas  contemporaneously 
with  the  formation  of  the  dry  land.  (Gen.  1  :  9,  10.) 
When  the  flood  came  we  are  told  that  "  all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,"  and 
that  "  the  sea  broke  forth."  (Gen.  7 :  11 ;  Job  38  :  8.) 
There  must  then  have  been  a  sea  from  the  begin- 
ning. It  existed  when  Adam  was  in  Paradise,  as 
well  as  since  ISToah  came  out  of  the  ark.  And  so 
there  will  be  a  sea  in  the  new  world,  the  same  as 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  If  not,  this  is  the 
only  passage  in  all  the  word  of  God  that  tells  us 
anything  to  the  contrary.  We  read  of  a  river  in 
the  new  earth,  as  of  rivers  in  the  original  Paradise ; 
and  where  there  are  rivers  there  are  seas.  When 
Christ  as  the  cloud- robed  Angel  (chap.  10)  set  his 
feet  on  the  earth  in  the  solemn  act  of  claiming;  and 
appropriating  it  as  his  own,  "He  set  his  right  foot 
upon  the  sea,'*  and  thus  claimed  and  appropriated 
it  the  same  as  he  claimed  and  appropriated  the 


332  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ground.*  Many  passages  also  which  refer  to 
Israel  and  the  kingdom  of  God  iu  the  blessed 
times  to  come,  distinctly  speak  of  the  sea  as  being 
turned  in  their  favor,  and  as  taking  part  in  the 
general  acclaim  over  the  ultimate  accomplishment 
of  the  mystery  of  God.  (See  Is.  42 :  10  ;  60 ;  5,  9; 
Ps.  24:2;  96:11;  98:6,7;  2Chron.  16:  32;  Rev. 
6  :  13.)  When  the  time  to  which  the  text  refers 
arrives  the  present  sea  "  ?20  longer  is"  just  as  the 
first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  "are  gone.''  There 
is  no  more  left  of  the  one  than  of  the  other,  but 
likewise  no  less.  Just  as  much  of  the  sea  as  of  the 
earth  abideth  forever.  The  Be- Genesis  touches 
both  alike,  just  as  the  first  Genesis.  As  ther«  is  a 
renewed  eternal  heaven  and  earth,  so  there  is  a 
renewed  eternal  sea  also,  for  one  is  a  part  of  the 
other.  Then,  however,  it  will  be  no  longer  a  thing 
of  danger  and  dread,  but  only  of  beauty,  joy,  and 
blessing.  Some  of  the  old  Eabbins  taught  that, 
in  the  new  world  of  Messiah,  men  shall  be  able  to 
walk  the  surface  of  the  sea  with  equal  ease  that 
they  now  walk  the  earth.  Nor  is  this  unlikely; 
for  the  Saviour,  as  a  man,  walked  on  the  sea,  and 
did  not  sink;  and  so  did  Peter  also,  until  his  faith 
and  courage  failed  him.  The  regeneration  is  the 
making  of  Christ's  miracles  universal.  The  mir- 
acles of  Christ  were  the  preintimationsand  begin- 
ning of  the  great  Regeneration  to  come,  and  the 
new  creation  is  simply  those  miracles  carried  out 
into  universal  effect.  Why  not  then  also  this 
with  regard  to  the  sea?     At  any  rate  it  wall  be 

*  See  Vol.  II,  p.  128. 


LECTURE    XLVIII.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  333 

Bubclued  and  rebegotten  to  Him  who  maketh  all 
things  new,  and  become  a  joy  and  service  without 
being  as  now  an  unmanageable  and  dangerous 
hindrance  and  barrier.  People  only  misread  the 
text,  and  load  themselves  with  endless  [)erplexitie8, 
when  they  interpret  it  to  mean  the  total  abolition 
of  all  seas.  As  the  old  sea  it  is  abolished,  just  as 
the  old  heavens  and  earth;  but,  as  in  their  case, 
it  is  an  abolition  which  eventuates  in  a  more  con- 
genial sea,  even  a  7}ew  sea, 

A  new  City,  Occasion  will  offer  to  consider  this 
when  we  come  to  the  special  vision  of  it  in  the 
after  portions  of  the  chapter;  but  it  here  presents 
itself  as  the  crown  of  the  regenerated  world.  It 
is  called  by  the  old  Hebrew  name  of  Jerusalem 
('/epoo<TaXy]fj.')^  and  not  by  the  Grecised  name  of  the 
earthly  city  QhpoauXoixa),  If  the  heaven,  the  earth, 
and  the  sea  be  literal,  then  certainly  must  this  also 
be  a  literal  city.  The  harlot  Woman  was  finally 
developed  and  embodied  in  a  literal  city,  and  it  is 
the  same  with  the  true  Woman.  It  is  the  Bride, 
the  Lamb's  Wife,  who  appears  in  this  new  city  for 
eternal  blessedness,  as  the  old  Adultress  appeared 
in  the  new  Babylon  for  everlasting  destruction. 
That  was  man's  glory  proudly  lifting  itself  in  de- 
fiance of  heaven;  this  is  the  Lamb's  glory,  gra- 
ciously descending  in  benediction  to  the  earth. 
That  was  the  consummation  of  this  world's  prog- 
ress, and  its  end;  this  is  the  consummation  of  the 
achievements  of  divine  grace,  and  its  memorial 
forever. 

It  is  a  new  city,  one  which  never  appeared  before, 
VOL.  III.  82 


334  '^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

one  of  which  all  other  cities  are  but  the  poor  pre- 
iiitimations,  and  one  as  compared  with  which  all 
present  cities  will  sink  out  of  mind  and  memory. 
It  is  new  in  its  materials,  in  its  size,  in  its  location, 
in  its  style,  in  its  permanence,  in  its  moral  purity, 
and  in  everything  characteristic  of  it.  It  is  heaven- 
built  ;  jewelled  in  its  foundations,  walls,  and  streets . 
perfected  in  every  thing  that  is  charming  and  beau- 
tiful, ''as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband;"  light- 
ing the  nations  with  its  brilliaucy,itself  ever  lumi- 
nous with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb ;  the 
true  "Eternal  City;" — the  imperishable  palace  of 
the  immortal  kings  of  the  ages. 

II.  Observe  the  Blessedness  of  that  AVorld. 

There  is  a  long  list  of  negations,  telling  the  ills 
from  which  it  brings  relief. 

Every  tear  is  wiped  away.  He  who  dries  them 
off  is  God  himself.  Human  hands  are  poor  at 
drying  tears.  If  they  succeed  in  removing  one 
set,  others  come  which  they  cannot  wipe  away. 
Earthly  power,  however  good  and  kind,  cannot 
go  far  in  the  binding  up  of  broken  hearts.  Only 
the  hand  that  made  the  spirit  can  reach  the  deep 
sources  of  its  sorrows,  or  dry  up  the  streams  that 
issue  from  them.  The  springsof  grief  yield  to  no 
other  potency.  But  then  his  loving  Almightiness 
shall  wipe  every  tear.  '-'  As  one  whom  his  mother 
comforteth,  so  will  I  comfort  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
comforted,"  saith  the  Lord.  "  Every  iear^^  for 
they  be  many; — tears  of  misfortune  and  poverty, 
such. as  Job  and  Lazarus  wept; — tears  of  bereaved 


LECTURE    XL  VIII.    CHAP     2i:l-8.  335 

affection,  such  as  Mary,  and  Martha,  and  the 
widow  of  Nain  shed; — tears  of  sympathy  and 
mercy,  such  as  Jeremiah  and  Jesus  wept  over  the 
sins  and  calamities  of  Jerusalem  ; — tears  of  perse- 
cuted innocence,  tears  of  contrition  and  penitence 
for  faults  and  crimes  against  the  goodness  and 
majesty  of  heaven  ; — tears  of  disappointment  and 
neglect ; — tears  of  yearning  for  what  cannot  now 
be  ours; — these,  and  whatever  others  ever  course 
the  cheeks  of  mortals,  shall  then  be  dried  for- 
ever. 

Death  no  longer  exists.  0  the  reign  of  death! 
Whom  has  it  not  touched!  What  circle  has  it  not 
invaded  !     What  home  has  it  never  entered ! 


But  one  dead  lamb  is  there ! 
There  is  no  fireside  howsoe'er  defended, 
But  hatli  one  vacant  chair. 

Around  our  churches  lie  our  graveyards,  and  all 
the  highways  are  lined  with  cemeteries  and  de- 
positories of  the  dead.  We  can  scarcely  open  our 
eyes  without  seeing  the  gloomy  hearse,  the  funeral 
procession,  the  undertaker's  warehouse,  the  shop 
full  of  mourning  goods,  or  the  stonecutter  chisel- 
ling epitaphs.  Every  newspaper  we  pick  up  has 
its  obituary  lists,  and  every  week  brings  forth  its 
bills  of  mortality.  On  the  right  hand,  on  the  left 
hand,  before  us,  behind  us,  around  us,  beneath  us, 
in  all  seasons,  in  all  climes,  everywhere,  is  death. 
We  ourselves  are  only  waiting,  not  knowing  what 
day   or   hour   we   shall   fall   beneath   its   stroke. 


§86  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Physiciaris  are  sent  forth  by  hundreds  and  lliou- 
sands  every  year  from  our  colleges  and  universi- 
ties, and  myriads  of  hands  are  ever  busy  collecting 
and  preparing  medicines  for  the  sick;  and  yet 
there  is  no  check,  no  restraint,  to  the  career  and 
reign  of  death  !  But,  at  length,  an  end  to  his  fell 
dominion  comes.  The  time  will  be  when  death 
itself  shall  die;  not  by  the  power  of  man,  not  by 
mortal  skill  or  earthly  medicines,  but  by  the  great 
redemption  of  God.  When  the  sunlight  of  the 
new  Genesis  dawns  upon  this  stricken  world,  the 
grand  thanksgiving  shall  ring  out  over  every  zone, 
from  the  equator  to  the  poles,  that  ''Death  is  swal- 
lowed up  in  viciory.^^  ITever  another  dying-bed 
shall  then  be  seen  again.  !N"ever  another  grave 
shall  then  be  dug.     For  '' death  shall  no  longer  be.^^ 

Sorrow  then  ceases.  Thousandfold  are  the  heart- 
aches and  the  griefs  which  now  beset  and  torment 
the  children  of  men.  Choose  what  path  of  life  we 
will,  we  cannot  escape  them.  They  follow  us  like 
our  shadow.  Bright  as  the  lives  of  some  may 
seem,  each  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness. 
Martyrs  suffer  where  no  fagots  or  flames  are 
visible.  But  there  is  a  boundary  line  over  which 
no  sorrows  ever  pass, — the  line  which  divides  be- 
tween the  new  earth  and  this.  There  hearts  no 
longer  bleed  in  secret;  there  the  cold  shadows 
never  again  fall  on  sensitive  souls;  there  the  killing 
frosts  no  more  settle  on  the  springing  plants  or 
blooming  flowers  of  human  peace.  Christ  drank 
the  cup  of  sorrow  for  our  world,  and  it  will  be 
found  empty  then. 


LECTURE    XL  VII  I.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  387 

And  all  crying  shall  be.  hushed.  Sore  complaining 
is  the  commonest  sound  on  earth.  It  is  often 
without  just  cause;  but  there  is  oo  stoicism  from 
which  it  is  never  wrung.  Man  comes  into  the 
world  with  a  cry,  and  goes  out  of  it  with  a  groan, 
and  all  between  is  more  or  less  intoned  with  help- 
less wailing.  The  cry  of  pain  and  passion — the 
cry  of  fear  and  strife — the  cry  of  wrong  and  op- 
pression—the cry  of  want,  and  harm,  and  danger 
— the  cry  of  torn  affection  and  blasted  hopes — the 
cry  of  weariness  and  disability — the  cry  of  suffer- 
ing and  of  death — the  cry  of  a  thousand  unnamed 
distresses — how  it  vibrates  on  every  breeze  in 
every  land !  But  the  Halleluias  of  the  renewed 
world  will  drown  out  the  voice  of  woe  forever. 

Neither  shall  pain  any  more  be.  O  the  racking 
torments  to  which  these  mortal  bodies  are  exposed  ! 
0  the  ills,  and  aches,  and  sharp  distresses  which 
come  upon  us  through  these  earthly  tenements ! 
But  they  shall  come  no  more  when  the  new  world 
comes. 

These  are  blessed  exemptions,  but  there  is 
greater  good. 

Life  is  there,— W^Q  that  is  life,— life  in  its  highest 
fulness  and  noblest  activities  and  associations, — 
eternal  life, — for  all  who  tread  the  soil  and  breathe 
the  air  of  that  new  world.  "The  water  of  hfe" 
flows  there  free  and  plenteous  for  each  and  all. 
What  that  water  is,  is  more  than  we  can  tell ;  but 
it  is  a  water  of  freshness,  purity,  and  cleansing, — 
a  water  that  slakes  all  thirst, — a  water  that  re- 
vives  against    all    symptoms   of    age    or   decay. 


388 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Though  years  heap  on  years,  and  centuri'^s  on 
centuries,  and  cycles  on  cycles,  never  shall  they 
dry  up  the  moisture  of  immortal  youth  and  beauty 
which  those  blessed  waters  give.  They  are  the 
life-waters  which  gladden  eternity,  and  which 
make  eternally  glad. 

A  soul- satisfy i7ig  worship  is  there.  The  children 
of  men  there  join  in  sublime  fellowship  with 
heaven;  for  it  is  "on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.^' 
The  Tabernacle  of  God,  with  Deity  visible  and 
approachable,  as  when  Adam  talked  with  his 
Maker  as  a  friend  and  companion,  shall  be  there, 
with  its  living  oracles  of  unveiled  truth,  and 
assemblies  of  the  sons  of  God  into  which  Satan 
can  no  more  insinuate  his  foul  presence,  or  intro- 
duce a  doubt,  or  jar,  or  imperfection  in  the  flow 
of  unsullied  adoration. 

And  with  it  all  is  the  possession  of  God  himself. 
Jehovah  is  the  highest  good,  the  sum  of  all  good. 
Union  and  intercommunion  with  him,  the  posses- 
sion of  him,  is  the  crown  of  human  blessedness 
and  glory.  To  hav6  God  with  us  as  our  God,  to 
know  him,  and  see  him,  and  enjoy  him  as  our  own, 
is  the  very  height  and  coronal  of  all  human  attain- 
ment and  possession — the  focal  point  of  all  the 
promises — the  fruition  of  the  sublimest  hopes. 
In  this  eternal  life  reaches  its  acme  and  fullest 
bloom.  In  this  man  reaches  the  superlative  of 
glory ;  for  in  it  he  inherits  all  things.  Such  then 
and  so  transcendent  is  the  blessedness  of  the  new 
world,  never  more  to  end. 


LECTURE    XLVIII.    CHAP.    21:1-8. 


389 


III.  Observe  the  Occupants  and  Possessors  op 
THAT  World. 

JSTot  the  ''cowardly''  who  shrink  from  the  con- 
flict with  sin,  ashamed  or  afraid  to  avow  and 
maintain  their  faith  in  God  and  his  Christ;— not 
the  "  unbelieving;'  who  set  at  nought  the  testimonies 
of  their  Maker,  scorn  to  trust  for  salvation  in  the 
merits  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  and  will  not  have 
Christ  to  rule  over  them; — not  the  '' imlliited,'^  who 
basely  degrade  themselves  with  their  unclean- 
ness,  bestiality,  and  abominations; — not  the  ''mur- 
derers,''  whether  such  by  outward  act  or  inward 
malice  ; — not  ''fornicators,''  wiiether  of  the  body 
or  the  cherished  lust  of  the  soul ; — not  "sorcerers,'^ 
practitioners  in  the  black  arts,  conjurers,  necro- 
mancers, and  seekers  and  exercisers  of  powers 
such  as  God  has  forbidden; — not  "idolaters,'^ 
whether  in  the  form  of  pagan  worship,  or  the 
ixivino;  of  the  heart  to  covetousness,  selfishness. 
Mammon,  or  what  is  not  God  ; — norany/afee  ones^ 
who  make,  or  love,  or  act  lies  ; — for  "  the  cowardly, 
and  unbelieving,  and  'polluted,  and  murderers,  and  for- 
nicators,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all  the  false, 
their  part  [shall  inherif]  in  the  lake  burning  with  fire 
and  brimstone,  tvhich  is  the  second  death."  Not  one 
of  all  such  characters  ever  comes  into  the  new 
heaven  and  earth. 

But  all  the  Saints  are  there — the  Church  of  the 
first-born — the  holy  people  of  God  from  Abel  to 
the  last  martyr  under  the  Antichrist.  Jehovah 
has  had  a  people  in  every  age, — a  people  called 


QC)Q  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

out  from  the  world,  marked  with  holy  signs,  per- 
vaded  with  a  holy  spirit, — a  people  signalized  as 
pilgrims  and  strangers  on  the  earth  ever  seeking 
for  a  firmly  founded  and  continuing  city  whose 
maker  and  builder  is  God.  Such  were  the  patri- 
archs of  the  early  ages,  who  saw  the  promises,  and 
embraced  them,  and  lived  on  earth  as  citizens  of 
another  and  heavenly  country.  Such  were  the 
prophets,  who  prophesied  beforehand  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow, 
and  searched  and  inquired  into  those  blessed 
things  which  the  angels  also  desired  to  look  into. 
Such  were  those  in  the  first  centuries  of  the 
Church  who  held  fast  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  de- 
nied not  their  faith  in  him  even  amid  the  roaring 
flames,  and  when  the  blood  of  his  confessors 
flowed  like  water.  Such  were  those  who  sighed 
and  cried  through  the  gloom  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
like  souls  under  the  altar,  and  those  who  after- 
wards shook  the  torch  of  Jehovah's  truth  afresh 
to  lischt  the  modern  nations  into  life.  And  such 
are  those  in  every  land,  of  every  tongue,  of  every 
age,  who  sliow  by  their  lives  and  testimony  that 
they  seek  a  city  yet  to  come.  All  these  are  there, 
not  in  flesh  and  blood,  not  returned  to  an  earthy 
corporeal  life,  but  in  resurrection  transfiguration, 
made  like  to  the  angels,  like  to  their  Redeemer 
now  in  glory,  and  having  their  home-place  and 
palace  in  the  Golden  City  for  which  they  looked, 
and  wrought,  and  waited,  and  suftered  when  on 
earth.  These  are  there,  as  occupants  of  the  new 
heavens,  the  dwellers  in  the  new  city,  the  sublim§ 


LECTURE    Xl.Viri.   CHAP     21  •  1  -  8.  39I 

and  heavenly  kings  and  priests  of  the  eternal  na- 
tions and  generations. 

And  the  still  ongoing  race  redeemed  is  there.     Many 
can  think  of  none  but  glorified  saints  in  this  grand 
picture ;  but  the  terms  of  the  record  will  not  con- 
strue with  that  idea.     The  glorified  saints  all  be- 
long to  the  celestial  city,  and  have  their  home  and 
residence  in  it.    That  city  is  the  Tabernacle  of  God 
which  comes  down  out  of  the  heaven.  •  Yet  when 
it  comes,  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  says : 
*'  Behold,  The  Tabernacle  of  God  [is]  with  the  men, 
[ivith  mankind:],  and  he  shall  tabernacle  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  he,  the  God  loith  them, 
shall  be  their  God.''     Who  then  are  these  to  whom 
the  Tabernacle  of  God  comes,  and  with  whom  it 
dwells?     Who  are  these  people  distinct  from  it, 
and  whom  it  is  to  enlighten  and  bless  ?     Who  can 
they  be,  if  not  the  nations  of  the  ongoing  race, 
dwelling  in  the  new  earth  in  the  flesh?     They  are 
redeemed  now,  holy,  innocent,  undying,  and  the 
Lord's  people  forever;    but  only  the  Church  of 
the  after-born,  and  not  of  the  first-born.     Jesus,  in 
Matthew  25,  describes  a  judgment  of   ''the  na- 
tions,'' when,  as  a  shepherd,  he  shall  divide  the 
sheep  from  the  goats,  and  when   the  sheep  "  na- 
tions" shall  be  set  on  his  right  hand,  and  "  go  into 
life  everlasting,"  whilst  the  goat   "nations"   go 
"  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels."     So,  in  the  next  chapter,  we  read  of 
these  same  sheep  "  nations  "  walking  by  means 
of  the   light  and  aid  of  this  celestial  eity  (chap. 
21:24),  but  quite  distinct  from  the  royal  Church 


392  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  the  first-born,  which  is  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 
Lamb's  Wife.  Likewise  the  whole  analogy  of  the 
Scriptures,  from  first  to  last,  bears  along  with  it 
this  implication.  There  is  not  a  word  which  as- 
serts any.  purpose  of  God  to  terminate  the  per- 
petuity of  humanity  as  an  ever-expanding  race. 
It  was  constituted  and  given  command  for  unend- 
ing perpetuity  before  sin  touched  it.  If  it  fails  to 
go  on  forever,  it  can  only  be  in  consequence  of 
the  introduction  of  sin.  But  there  has  been  prom- 
ised and  constituted  a  Redeemer  to  ransom  it  from 
all  captivity  to  sin  and  corruption.  And  if  his 
redemption  does  not  go  far  enough  to  exempt  the 
ongoing  race  from  being  finally  extinguished,  then 
it  is  not  redemption,  and  the  Destroyer  beats  out 
the  Almighty  Redeemer.  There  is  no  escape 
from  this  alternative  if  we  do  not  allow  that  the 
race  of  man  as  a  race  continues  in  the  new  earth, 
and  there  realizes  its  complete  and  final  recovery 
from  all  the  eftects  and  ill  consequences  of  the  fall. 
Ransomed  nations  in  the  flesh  are  therefore  among 
the  occupants  of  the  new  earth,  and  the  blessed 
and  happy  dwellers  in  it,  as  Adam  and  Eve  dwelt 
in  Paradise.  The  Sitter  on  the  throne  saith, 
"  Behold^  new  1  make  everyihwgJ^  That  everything 
includes  heaven,  earth,  and  sea,  and  by  necessary 
implication,  had  we  no  other  proofs,  the  race  of 
humanity  is  also  included  as  a  subject  of  the  great 
Re-Genesis.  Hence  said  the  Almighty  to  Isaiah, 
"Behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth. 
Be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  forever  in  that  which  I 
create.      And    they  shall   build    houses    and  iu- 


LECTURE    XL  VIII.    CHAP.    21:1-8.  393 

habit  them;  and  they  shall  plant  vineyards  and 
eat  the  fruit  of  them.  They  shall  not  labor  in 
vain,  nor  bring  forth  for  trouble;  for  they  are  the 
seed  of  the  blessed  of  the  Lord,  and  their  offspring 
with  them."  (Is.  65:17-25.) 

Men  may  think  we  dream  when  we  thus  propose 
to  read  God's  word  as  it  is  written  ;  but  he  has 
anticipated  all  their  rationalizing  and  skepticism. 
The  Sitter  upon  the  throne  saith, "  Write,  because 

THESE  WORDS  ARE  FAITHFUL  AND  TRUE."     There  Cau 

be  no  mistake  about  it.  God  knew  how  to  say 
what  he  meant,  and  he  knew  the  meaning  of  what 
he  did  say.  And  to  that  which  he  has  said,  he 
affixes  his  own  infallible  seal,  that  the  words  are 
"faithful  and  true."  Here,  then,  let  us  rest  till 
their  fulfilment  comes. 


LECTUEE  FORTY-OTNTH. 

THE  NEW  JERUSALEM— MATERIALISM  IN  THE  REVELATIONS  OF 
THE  FUTURE — A  LITERAL  CITY — HOW  THE  BRIDE  OF  THE 
LAMB — ITS  DERIVATION — ITS  LOCATION — ITS  SPLENDOR — 
ITS  AMPLITUDE — ITS  SYSTEM  OF  ILLUMINATION — ITS  LACK 
OF  A  TEMPLE — ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  WORLD  AT  LARGE — ITS 
SUPERLATIVE    HOLINESS. 


Rev.  21  :  9-27,  (Revised  Text.)  And  there  came  one  of  the  seven 
angels  which  had  the  seven  bowls  full  of  the  seven  last  plagues,  and  he 
talked  with  me,  saying,  Hither,  I  will  show  thee  the  Bride,  the  Wife 
of  the  Lamb. 

And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  on  to  a  mountain  great  and 
high,  and  showed  me  the  holy  city  Jerusalem  coming  down  out  of  the 
heaven  from  God,  having  the  glory  of  God ,  her  brightness  like  a  stone 
most  precious,  as  a  jasper  stone,  crystal-clear  ,  having  a  wall  great  and 
high,  having  twelve  gates,  and  at  the  gates  twelve  angels,  and  names 
written  thereon,  which  are  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  sons 
of  Israel ;  from  the  east  three  gates,  and  from  the  nurth  three  gcdes, 
and  from  the  south  three  gates,  and  from  the  west  three  gates.  And 
the  wall  of  the  city  having  twelve  foundation-stones,  and  on  them  twelve 
names  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb. 

And  he  that  spoke  with  me  had  a  measure,  a  golden  reed,  that  he 
might  measure  the  city,  and  her  gates,  and  her  walls. 

And  the  city  lieth  four-square,  and  her  length  is  as  great  as  her 
breadth. 

And  he  measured  the  city  with  the  reed  to  the  extent  of  twelve  thou- 
sand stadia.  The  length,  and  the  breadth,  and  the  height  of  it  are 
equal. 

And  he  measured  her  wall  [height]  of  a  hundred  forty-four  cubits, 
measure  of  a  man,  which  is  of  an  angel. 

And  the  construction  of  her  wall  jasper,  and  the  city  pure  gold,  llk» 
to  clear  glass- 
(394) 


LECTURE    X  L  I-X.    CHAP.   21  :  9  -  27.  395 

The  foundation-stones  of  the  wall  of  the  city  adorned  with  every 
precious  stone.  The  first  foundation-stone,  jasper^  the  second, 
sapphire;  the  third,  chalcedony ;  the  fourth,  emerald  ;  the  fifth,  sar- 
donyx ;  the  sixth,  sardius  ,  the  seventh,  chrysolyte;  the  eighth,  beryl  ; 
the  ninth,  topaz  ;  the  tenth,  chrisoprasus ;  the  eleventh,  jacinth ;  the 
twelfth,  amethyst. 

And  the  twelve  gates  twelve  pearls,  each  one  of  the  gates  separately 
was  out  of  one  pearl. 

And  the  street  of  the  city  pure  gold  as  transparent  glass. 

And  a  temple  I  saw  not  in  it;  for  the  Lord  God  the  All-Ruler  and 
the  Lamb  is  its  temple. 

And  the  city  hath  not  need  of  the  sun,  nor  of  the  moon,  that  they 
should  illumine  itj  for  the  glory  of  God  lighted  it,  and  the  Lamb  the 
lamp  of  it,  and  the  nations  shall  walk  by  means  of  the  light  of  it. 
And  the  kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  to  [or  into]  it.  And  its 
gates  shall  not  be  shut  by  day,  for  night  shall  not  be  there.  And  they 
shall  bi  ing  the  glory  and  the  reverence  of  the  nations  to  [or  into]  it. 

And  there  shall  not  enter  into  it  anything  common  [or  miclefni],  nor 
he  that  doeth  abomination  and  falsehood,  but  only  they  that  are  writ- 
ten in  the  book  [or  ro^/.]  of  the  life  oi  the  Lamb. 


ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  paradoxes  of  the 
Church  of  our  times  is  its  abhorrence  of  ma- 
teriality in  connection  with  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
and  the  eternal  future,  whilst  practically  up  to  its 
ears  in  materialism  and  earthiness.  Were  one 
of  the  old  Christians  of  the  Apostolic  age  to  revisit 
the  world  to  take  a  look  at  our  modern  Christian- 
ity, I  think  he  would  be  greatly  puzzled  to  under- 
stand how,  under  the  guise  of  spiritualit}^,  the 
whole  Church  is  permeated  and  loaded  down  with 
carnal  philosophies,  hopes,  and  aims.  Remember- 
ing the  sublime  simplicity  of  the  ancient  times, 
when  the  Church  was  set,  like  a  golden  circlet,  on 
the  head  of  the  King  of  Clory,  in  contact  every- 
where with  Divinity,  he  would  be  amazed  to  see 
how  that  circlet  has  been  divorced  from  its  orig- 


396  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

inal  setting,  stained  with  the  flesh,  and  pushed 
into  the  morasses  and  bogs  of  this  world,  whilst 
earthly  glories — crowns,  mitres,  tiaras,  wealth,  and 
secular  consequence  —  are  looked  to  and  wor- 
shipped everywhere  as  the  insignia  of  what  in  sad 
mockery  is  called  a  "  spiritual  "  kingdom!  Would 
he  not  wonder  to  iind  Christians  locating  their 
most  orthodox  rejoicing  in  monarchs,  in  popes, 
patriarchs,  bishops,  sect  leaders,  numbers,  luxuri- 
ous arts,  boastful  speeches,  worldly  orators,  secu- 
lar education,  march  of  intellect,  and  a  fancied 
progress  toward  a  "  spiritual "  millennium  of  mere 
secularism,  to  merge  at  last  into  an  empty  and  im- 
possible heaven!  And  venturing  to  ijiquire  of 
some  of  our  popular  preachers,  whether  this  is 
thought  to  be  the  proper  waiting  for  the  Lord 
from  heaven, — the  way  to  pray  *'  Thy  kingdom 
come," — the  method  by  which  to  realize  the 
blessed  consummation  w^hen  it  shall  be  *^on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven,'- — the  holding  fast  of  the  charac- 
teristic and  animating  patriarchal  hope  of  a  celes- 
tial city  which  Christ  has  gone  to  build  and  to 
bring  down  out  of  the  heaven  as  the  eternal  resi- 
dence of  his  enthroned  saints, — what  would  be  his 
surprise  to  get  for  answer  :  *'  Sir,  you  are  laboring 
under  a  delusion, — the  kingdom  was  set  up  1800 
years  ago, — the  speedy  coming  again  of  Christ  in 
person  to  reign  on  earth  is  a  carnal  idea,  long  since 
exploded,  and  held  only  by  a  few  eccentric  people 
who  cannot  rise  to  a  conception  of  the  true  spirit- 
uality of  the  Bible;-— and  as  to  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, why  that  is  only  a  gorgeous  Oriental  symbol 


LECTURE    XLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  397 

of  the  beautiful  church  state  which  you  see  all 
around  you.     The  glory  of  Christianity  is  to  keep 
abreast  with  the  times,  to  press  popular  education, 
to   create   machinery   to    reach  and   elevate    the 
masses,  to  follow  up  the  conquests  of  arms  with 
Bibles  and  missionaries,  schools  and  civilization, 
to  purify  and  influence  legislation,  to  improve  so- 
ciety by  gradual  reforms  and  general  enlighten- 
ment, to  win  for  the  Church  the  patronage  of  the 
rich  and  great,  and  so  to  progress  till  the  whole 
earth  shall  rest  in  the  embrace  of  a  worldwide 
'spiritual'  kingdom  (located  here  in  Satan's  lap  !) 
to  last  for  indefinite  ages !"     With  a  groan  over  his 
inability  to  rise  to  such  a  philosophy,  I  can  fancy 
the  ancient  saint  gladly  returning  to  his  grave,  to 
sleep  in  honest  earth  till  that  resurrection  on  which 
his  hopes  were  fixed,  rather  than  hear  any  further 
about  a  "  spirituality"  so  carnal,  and  a  Christianity 
so  doubtful  and  earthy. 

A  spiritualized  earthiness  is  simply  a  white- 
washed sepulchre;  and  an  incorporeal  and  imma- 
terial eternity  for  man,  is  equally  aside  from  the 
teachings  of  God's  Word.     No  wonder  that  pro- 
fessed believers  of  our  day  are  anxious  to  put  off 
getting  into  the  heaven  they  believe  in  as  long  as 
the  doctor's  skill  can   keep  them  out  of  it,  and 
finally  agree  to  go  only  as  a  last  despairing  resort. 
It  has  no  substance,  no  reality,  for  the  soul  to  take 
hold  on.     It  is  nothing  but  a  world  of  shadows, 
of  mist,  of  dim  visions  of  blessedness,  with  which 
it  is  impossible  for  a  being  who  is  not  mere  spirit, 
and  never  will  be  mere  spirit,  who  knows  only  to 


398  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

live  in  a  body  and  shall  live  forever  in  a  body,  to 
feel  any  fellowship  or  sympathy. 

But  such  are  not  the  ideas  of  our  futurity  which 
the  Bible  holds  out  to  our  faith  and  hope.  Did 
men  but  learn  to  know  the  difierence  between  a 
Paradise  of  sense  and  a  Paradise  of  sensuality,  the 
truth  of  God  would  not  suffer  in  men's  hands  as  it 
does,  and  their  souls  would  not  suffer  as  they  do 
for  something  solid  to  anchor  to  amid  the  anxious 
perturbations  of  life  and  death.  Did  men  but  rid 
themselves  of  the  old  heresy  that  matter  means 
sin,  and  learn  to  know  and  feel  that  there  was  a 
material  universe  before  sin  was,  and  that  a  ma- 
terial universe  will  live  on  when  sin  shall  have 
been  clean  washed  away  from  the  entire  face  of  it, 
they  would  be  in  better  position  both  to  under- 
stand and  to  enjoy  the  fore-armouncements  of  the 
futurity  of  the  saints  which  God  has  given  for 
their  consolation  amid  these  earthly  vicissitudes 
and  falsities.  Says  one  of  the  greatest  of  Scottish 
preachers  :  "  There  is  much  of  the  innocent,  and 
much  of  the  inspiring,  and  much  to  affect  and  ele- 
vate the  heart  in  the  scenes  and  contemplations 
of  materiality, — and  we  do  hail  the  information, 
that,  after  the  loosening  of  the  present  framework, 
it  will  again  be  varied  and  decked  out  anew  in  all 
the  graces  of  its  unfading  verdure,  and  of  its  un- 
bounded variety, — that  in  addition  to  our  direct 
personal  view  of  the  Deity,  when  he  comes  down 
to  tabernacle  with  men,  we  shall  also  have  the 
reflection  of  him  in  a  lovely  mirror  of  his  own 
workmanship, — and  that  instead  of  being  trans- 


LECTURE    XLIX.     CHAP.    21:9-27.  399 

ported  to  some  abode  of  dimness  and  mystery,  so 
remote  from  human  experience  as  to  be  beyond 
all  comprehension,  we  shall  walk  forever  in  a  land 
replenished  with  those  sensible  delights,  and  those 
sensible  glories,  which,  we  doubt  not,  will  lie  most 
profusely  scattered  over  the  '  new  heavens  and 
new  earth,'  We  are  now  walking  on  a  terrestrial 
surface,  not  more  compact,  perhaps,  than  the  one 
we  shall  hereafter  walk  upon ;  and  are  now  wear- 
ing terrestrial  bodies,  not  firmer  and  more  solid, 
perhaps,  than  those  we  shall  hereafter  wear.  It 
is  not  by  working  any  change  upon  them  that  we 
could  realize,  to  any  extent,  our  future  heaven. 
The  spirituality  of  our  future  state  lies  not  in  the 
kind  of  substance  which  is  to  compose  its  frame- 
work, but  in  the  character  of  those  who  people  it. 
Tliere  will  be  a  firm  earth,  as  we  have  at  present, 
and  a  heaven  stretched  over  it,  as  we  have  at  pres- 
ent; and  it  is  not  by  the  absence  of  these,  but  by 
the  absence  of  sin,  that  the  abodes  of  immortality 
will  be  characterized."  (Chalmers.) 

The  ]^ew  Jerusalem,  which  we  now  come  to 
consider,  is  in  the  line  of  these  ideas.  It  stands' 
in  antithesis  to  the  final  Babylon.  John  is  called 
by  one  of  the  same  particular  angels,  in  precisely 
the  same  way,  to  be  shown  it  as  he  was  called  to 
be  shown  the  great  Harlot.  (See  chap.  17.)  The 
world  and  all  its  activities  and  achievements  is 
made  up  of  two  opposing  sides, — the  side  of  the 
heavenly,  the  good,  the  blessed,  and  the  side  of 
the  earthy,  sensual,  and  devilish, — the  true  and 
the  false, — the  things  which  gravitate  toward 
VOL.  in.  83 


400  TPIE    APOCALYPSE. 

eternal  life,  and  the  things  which  gravitate  toward 
destruction  and  the  second  death, — the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  devih  These 
two  are  at  present  intermingled,  and  are  dilier- 
entlj  situated  toward  each  other  at  different 
periods,  the  one  often  hard  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  other.  But  everything  on  either  side 
has  an  affinity  for  its  own,  and  is  true  to  its  own ; 
so  that,  in  the  progress  of  time,  each  side  becomes 
more  and  more  itself,  developed  and  consolidated, 
until  the  two  antagonistic  influences,  tendencies, 
and  parties  crystallize  to  their  true  spirit,  and 
finally  come  out  in  tw^o  opposite  cities;  the  one  of 
the  earth  and  from  the  earth,  and  the  other  of 
heaven  and  from  the  heaven;  the  one  for  ever- 
lasting extinguishment  under  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  the  other  for  eternal  illumination  with  his  un- 
veiled presence  and  glory.  Whatever,  therefore, 
may  be  the  run  of  our  ideas  of  the  one,  the  same 
must  hold  good  of  the  other  also ;  for  what  Great 
Babylon  is  on  the  side  of  the  bad,  this  New  Jeru- 
salem is  on  the  side  of  the  good;  for  they  are 
counterparts  of  each  other,  and  each  is  the  ulti- 
mate consummation  of  that  to  wliich  it  relates. 

The  Apostle  had  already  seen  this  city  "coming 
down  out  of  the  heaven  from  God;"  but  he  saw  it 
only  at  a  distance,  and  without  that  particular 
spiritual  transport  which  was  necessary  to  enable 
him  to  see  it  so  as  to  describe  it.  God  meant  that 
we  should  have  as  clear  and  thorough  an  outlook 
upon  the  ultimate  crown  on  the  side  of  grace  and 
salvation,  as  he  has  given  us  of  the  ultimate  crown 


LECTURE    XLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27  4()X 

and  end  of  the  sensual  wisdom  and  the  man- 
wrought  progress;  and  hence  this  angel  comes  to 
show  John  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  Wife,  in  her 
final  condition  and  domicil,and  in  all  the  magnifi- 
cence of  her  eternal  glory.  And  whatever  taber- 
nacle of  God,  or  congregating  of  true  worshippers, 
or  seat  or  character  of  Divine  economies,  consti- 
tutions, or  manifestations,  have  been  graciously 
vouchsafed  to  men,  as  individuals,  nationalities,  or 
churches,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  to 
this  time,  is  here  shown  in  its  final  consummation, 
completeness,  and  eternal  reality. 

That  a  real  City  as  well  as  a  perfected  moral 
system  is  here  to  be  understood,  I  see  not  how 
we  can  otherwise  conclude.  Great  Babylon,  to 
which  it  stands  as  the  exact  antithesis,  came  out 
finally  in  a  real  and  universally  potent  citj^;  so, 
therefore,  must  this.  All  the  elements  of  a  city 
are  indicated.  It  has  specific  dimensions.  It  has 
foundations,  walls,  gates,  and  streets.  It  has  guards 
outside  and  inhabitants  within,  both  distinct  from 
what  characterizes  it  as  a  real  construction.  It  is 
called  a  city — "  The  Holy  City,'*  It  is  named  as  a  city, 
"  The  Holy  Jerusalem.''  It  is  called  "  The  New 
Jerusalem,"asover  against  an o^(/ Jerusalem,  which 
was  a  material  city.  Among  the  highest  promises 
to  the  saints  of  all  ages  was  the  promise  of  a  special 
place  and  economy  answering  to  a  heavenly  city, 
and  which  is  continually  referred  to  as  an  enduring 
and  God-built  city.  Abraham  "  looked  for  a  city 
which  hath  foundations,  whose  maker  and  builder 
is  God."  (Ileb.  11 :  10.)    Of  all  the  ancient  saints  it 


402 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


is  written,  that  **God  hath  prepared  for  them  a 
cityj'  (Heb.  11 :  16.)  Jesus  assured  the  disciples 
from  whom  he  was  about  to  be  separated,  ''  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  pre- 
pare a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive 
you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may 
be  also."  (Jno.  14:2,  3.)  Hence  the  Apostle,  in 
the  name  of  all  Christians  of  his  day,  said,  "Here 
we  have  no  continuing  city ^  but  we  seek  one  to  come.'' 
(Heb.  13 :  14.)  Hence  also  it  is  given  as  one  of  the 
great  exaltations  of  true  believers,  even  here  on 
earth,  that  they  "  are  come  unto  the  city  of  the 
livingGod,the  heavenly  Jerusalem"  (Heb.  12:  22); 
not  indeed  as  to  actual  possession  as  yet,  but  as 
having  attained  to  title  to  it  and  to  citizenship  in 
it  by  faith,  hope,  and  sure  anticipation.  And 
whatever  difficulty  we  may  have  in  taking  it  in, 
or  in  reconciling  it  to  our  prepossessions,  I  do  not 
see  how  we  can  be  just  and  fair  to  God's  Word, 
and  the  faith  of  the  saints  of  former  ages,  and  not 
see  and  admit  that  we  here  have  to  do,  not  with  a 
mere  ideal  and  fantastic  city,  but  with  a  true,  real, 
God-built  city, substantial  and  eternal ;  albeit  there 
has  never  been  another  like  it. 

The  angel  calls  it  '^  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  Wife.'' 
The  heavenly  city  is  Christ's  Bride,  not  on  account 
of  what  makes  it  a  city,  but  on  account  of  the 
sanctified  and  glorified  ones  who  inhabit  it.  With- 
out the  saints,  whose  home  and  residence  it  is,  it 
would  not  be  the  Lamb's  Wife;  and  yet  it  is  the 
Lamb's  Wife  in  a  sense  which  does  not  exclude 
the  foundations,  walls,  gates,  streets  and  construe- 


LECTURE    X  L I  X.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  403 

tions  which  contribute  to  make  it  a  city.  Mere 
edifices  and  avenues  do  not  make  a  city ;  neither 
does  a  mere  congregation  or  multitude  of  people 
make  a  city.  You  cannot  have  a  living  city  with- 
out people  to  inhabit  it;  and  you  cannot  have  a 
city  without  the  edifices  and  avenues  arranged  in 
some  fixed  shape  for  the  accommodation  of  those 
who  make  up  its  population.  It  is  the  two  toge- 
ther, and  the  order  in  which  the  parts  are  severally 
disposed,  the  animate  with  the  inanimate,  which 
constitute  a  city.  And  whilst  this  holy  Jerusalem 
is  the  Bride  and  Wife  of  Christ  with  reference  to 
its  holy  occupants,  it  is  still  those  occupants  as  dis- 
posed and  arranged  in  that  city.  So  that  the  city 
as  a  city,  as  well  as  its  people  as  a  people,  even  the 
whole  taken  together,  is  embraced  in  what  the  angel 
calls  '*the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  Wife,"  as  she  finally 
appears  in  her  eternal  form  and  completeness. 

The  description  which  the  Apostle  gives  us  of 
this  city,  though  very  brief,  is  very  magnificent, 
and  presents  a  picture  which  almost  blinds  us  with 
its  brightness.  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  numerous  details. 
They  can  be  found  more  or  less  accurately  given 
in  almost  any  respectable  commentary  on  the 
Apocalypse.  Only  to  a  few  of  its  broader  and 
more  important  features  do  I  invite  attention  at 
present,  with  a  few  brief  remarks  on  each. 

1.  Its  Derivation. — John  sees  it  "  coming  down 
out  of  heaven  from  God."  It  is  of  celestial  origin. 
It  is  the  direct  product  of  Almighty  power  and 
wisdom.     He  who  made  the  worlds  is  the  Maker 


404  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

of  this  illustrious  city.  No  mortal  hand  is  ever 
employed  upon  its  construction.  The  saints  are 
all  God's  workmanship.  They  are  all  begotten  of 
his  Spirit,  and  shaped  and  fashioned  into  living 
stones  from  the  dark  quarries  of  a  fallen  world, 
and  transfigured  from  glory  to  glory  by  the  gra- 
cious operations  of  his  hand.  They  reach  their 
heavenly  character  and  places  through  his  own  di- 
rect agency  and  influence.  And  he  who  makes, 
prepares,  and  places  them,  makes,  prepares,  and 
places  their  sublime  habitation  also.  It  is  else- 
where said,  in  so  many  words,  that  the  maker  and 
builder  of  this  city  is  God.  (Heb.  11 :  10.)  It  has 
no  architect,  no  workmen,  but  himself.  He  who 
by  his  Spirit  garnished  the  heavens,  erects  and 
fashions  the  'New  Jerusalem. 

2.  Its  Location. — This  is  not  specifically  told,  but 
the  record  is  not  without  some  hints.  John  sees 
it  coming  down  out  of  heaven.  The  idea  is  that 
it  comes  close  to  the  earth,  and  is  intended  to  have 
a  near  relation  to  the  earth;  but  it  is  nowhere  said 
that  it  ever  alights  on  the  earth,  or  ever  becomes 
part  of  its  material  fabric.  Though  coming  into 
the  vicinity  of  the  earth,  it  is  always  spoken  of  as 
the  "  Jerusalem  which  is  above,''  (Gal.  4 :  26.)  The 
nations  on  the  earth  "  walk  by  means  of  its  light," 
which  implies  that  it  is  over  them.  John  could 
only  get  a  near  view  of  it  by  being  spiritually 
transported  to  the  top  of  "  a  mountain  great  and 
high,"  like  the  greatest  altitudes  of  the  Alps  or 
the  Himalayas.  The  prophecies  also  speak  of  a 
future  Jerusalem  as  set  at  the  tops  of  the  moun- 


LECTURE    XLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  4Q5 

tains,  and  exalted  over  the  hills.  (Is.  2 :  2.)  If  a 
final  exaltation  of  the  earthly  Jerusalem  is  con- 
templated in  such  passages,  the  language  still  is 
borrowed  from  something  higher,  in  which  alone 
its  literal  import  can  be  realized,  and  hence  in- 
cludes more  especially  the  "  Jerusalem  which  is 
above,"  of  which  the  earthly  Jerusalem  is  the  type. 
The  probabilities  are  that  it  will  stand  high  over 
Palestine,  and  perhaps  stationary,  as  the  earth  re- 
volves under  it,  not  so  high  as  not  to  be  in  ample 
view  of  all  the  dwellers  of  the  earth,  and  not  so 
low  as  not  to  throw  its  illumination  upon  all  nations 
and  countries,  and  upon  at  least  half  the  earth  at 
a  time.  Something  like  what  the  pillar  of  cloud 
and  fire  were  to  the  tribes  of  Israel  when  they 
came  up  out  of  Egypt,  shall  the  relation  and  loca- 
tion of  this  glorious  city  be,  with  reference  to  the 
generations  of  men  in  the  new  earth. 

3.  Its  Splendor. — Here  the  specifications  are  nu- 
merous and  transcendant,  as  we  would  expect  in 
a  city  erected  and  ornamented  by  Jehovah,  and 
coming  forth  direct  from  the  heavens.  Everything 
built  by  God's  direction  is  the  very  best  and  most 
splendid  of  its  kind.  So  was  the  ship  in  which 
ISToah  was  saved ;  so  was  the  Great  Pyramid,  of 
which  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  built 
by  divine  direction;*  and  so  were  the  Jewish 
Tabernacle  and  Temple.  Much  rather  then  would 
it  be  so  in  a  "  Great  City,"  built  with  his  own 
hands,  and  intended  as  the  sublime  crown  of  the 

*  Sec  my  vulumo,  A  Miracle  in  Stone. 


406  ^HE    APOCALYPSE 

most  marvellous  of  all  his  glorious  works.   And  as 
we  would  expect,  so  the  description  is. 

Earthly  cities  are  often  very  magnificent  and 
charming;  but  if  we  take  our  stand  on  some  high 
point  from  which  to  look  down  upon  them,  we 
can  see  nothing  but  irregular  heaps  of  human 
habitations  and  buildings,  mostly  involved  in  a 
mist  of  fumes  and  smoke,  having  but  a  dim  light 
of  their  own ;  dusty,  dingy,  and  by  no  means  the 
most  beautiful  objects  on  which  the  eye  can  rest. 
It  is  very  different  with  this  heavenly  city.  It  is 
as  clean,  and  pure,  and  bright  as  a  transparent 
icicle  in  the  sunshine.  John  describes  it  as  "  having 
the  glory  of  God."  Glory  is  brightness,  lustre, 
splendor.  The  glory  of  God,  or  that  in  which 
God  is  arrayed,  that  which  most  bespeaks  and 
characterizes  Deity,  is  Light ;  for  "  God  is  light," 
and  in  hirn  is  no  darkness  at  all.  And  this  city 
has,  and  is  invested  with,  the  glory,  light,  bright- 
ness, and  radiating  splendor  of  God.  That  bright- 
ness as  it  flashed  on  Saul  of  Tarsus  on  the  road  to 
Damascus,  surpassed  the  radiance  of  the  noonday 
sun  of  Syria.  The  very  intensity  of  its  brilliancy 
struck  him  blind.  And  this  brightness  the  New 
Jerusalem  has,  only  with  its  sharpness  when  mani- 
fested against  sin  and  sinners  softened,  for  there 
are  no  more  sinners,  and  no  wrath.  Hence  the 
brightness  is  like  a  most  precious  jasper  stone,  A 
jasper  stone  is  wavy  with  the  various  colors  of  the 
rainbow;  but  it  is  opaque.  This  city  has  this 
jasper  appearance,  but  without  the  opacity.  It  is 
"  like  a  most  precious  jasper  stone  crystal-clear ^^ 


LECTURE    XLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  407 

perfectly  transparent,  like  a  diamond  or  rock« 
crystal.  So  pure,  so  bright,  so  soft,  is  the  lumi- 
nous and  divine  splendor  in  which  this  whole  city 
is  arrayed. 

It  has  "  a  wall  great  and  high,"  which  is  not 
only  like  jasper,  but  which  is  built  of  jasper  itself. 
And  that  wall  stands  on  twelve  foundation-stones, 
and  each  of  those  twelve  immense  stones  is  a  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  jewel  in  itself.  There  are  certain 
substances  in  nature,  found  in  very  small  frag- 
ments, which  are  so  scarce,  rare,  beautiful,  and 
enduring  that  they  are  called  gems,  or  precious 
stones;  so  precious  that  the  prices  of  them  are 
almost  fabulous,  and  hence  they  are  used  almost 
exclusively  for  rich  and  costly  ornament.  Twelve 
kinds  of  the^e,  each  a  vast,  apportioned,  and  solid 
mass,  make  up  the  foundations  on  which  the  jasper 
v.-alls  of  this  city  are  built.  Through  these  walls 
are  twelve  openings  or  gateways,  with  twelve 
gates;  and  each  of  these  twelve  gates  is  made  of 
one  solid  pearl. 

From  these  gates  inward  there  are  as  many 
main  streetways,  and  all  the  streetway  is  gold, — 
gold  in  perfect  purity,  such  as  cannot  be  reached 
by  any  earthly  refinement,-— gold  with  a  peculiar 
heavenly  quality  beyond  what  is  ever  seen  in  our 
sro\d,-—ira7}sparent  gold  like  the  most  perfect  glass. 
Men  have  built  some  very  grand  cities,  the  houses 
of  which  they  have  constructed  of  all  manner  of 
costly  stones,  granite,  marble,  and  other  solid  pro- 
ductions of  the  earth,  dressed,  and  polished,  and 
ornamented  to  degrees  of  great  excellence.     But 


408  TH^    APOCALYPSE 

there  is  one  part  of  every  such  city  which  they  are 
satisfied  to  have  of  inferior  material,  only  so  that 
it  is  even  and  smooth;  namely,  the  part  which  is 
trodden  under  every  one's  feet.  It  therefore  gives 
a  very  high  touch  to  the  splendor  of  this  celestial 
city  that  its  very  streets  are  pure  transparent 
gold. 

And  the  city  itself  is  of  the  same  material, — 
nothing  but  "  pure  gold  like  to  clear  glass."  It  is  a 
true  crystal  palace,  made  of  nothing  but  trans- 
parent gold.  An  object  is  thus  presented,  the 
splendor  of  which  far  outshines  the  most  sublime 
creations  of  which  the  human  imagination  ever 
dreamed. 

4.  Its  Amplitude. — There  is  no  stint  or  meanness 
in  God's  creations.  When  he  set  himself  to  the 
making  of  worlds,  he  filled  up  an  immeasurable 
space  with  them.  He  brought  them  forth  in  num- 
bers without  number,  of  grades  upon  grades,  from 
the  moons  which  play  around  the  planets  to  lumi- 
nous masses  beyond  any  power  of  man  to  commen- 
surate their  enormous  magnitude.  When  he 
created  angels  he  added  myriads  on  myriads,  and 
orders  on  orders,  till  all  earthly  arithmetic  is  lost 
in  the  counting  of  them.  When  he  started  the 
human  race  it  was  on  a  career  of  multiplication  to 
which  we  can  set  no  limit.  When  he  began  the 
glorious  work  of  redemption,  and  commenced  the 
taking  out  and  fashioning  of  a  people  to  become 
the  companions  of  his  only  begotten  Son  and  co- 
regents  with  their  Redeemer,  these  pictures  of  the 
final  outcome  tell  of  great  multitudinous  hosts,  in 


LECTURE    XL  IX.    CHAP.     21:9-27.  499 

numbers  like  the  sands  of  the  seasliore.  And  the 
city  he  builds  for  them  is  of  corresponding  di- 
mensions. 

Starting  from  the  centre  of  our  own  city,  though 
perhaps  the  largest  in  extent  on  this  continent,  we 
can  travel  but  a  few  miles  till  we  get  beyond  its 
built-up  limits;  and  its  breadth  is  but  slight  com- 
pared with  its  length.  But  the  golden  city  for 
which  the  Church  of  the  first-born  is  taught  to 
look  as  its  eternal  home,  is  1500  miles  square  ;  for 
12,000  stadia  make  1500  miles.  John  saw  it 
measured,  and  this  was  the  measure  of  it,  just  as 
wide  as  it  is  long,  and  just  as  high  as  it  is  wide; 
for  the  "  length  and  the  breadth  and  the  height 
of  it  are  equal."  Here  would  be  streets  over 
streets,  and  stories  over  stories,  up,  up,  up,  to  the 
height  of  1500  miles,  and  each  street  1500  miles 
long.  Thus  this  city  is  a  solid  cube  of  golden  con- 
structions, 1500  miles  every  way.  The  base  of  it 
would  stretch  from  furthest  Maine  to  furthest  Flor- 
ida, and  from  the  shore  of  the  Atlantic  to  Color- 
ado. It  would  cover  all  Britain,  Ireland,  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  Austria,  Prussia,  European 
Turkey,  and  half  of  European  Russia,  taken  to- 
gether! Great  was  the  City  of  Kineveh,  so  great 
that  Jonah  had  only  begun  to  enter  it  after  a  day's 
journey.  How  long  then  would  it  take  a  man  to 
explore  this  city  of  gold,  whose  every  street  is  one- 
fifth  the  length  of  the  diameter  of  the  earth,  and  the 
number  ofwhose  main  avenues,thoughamile  above 
each  other,  and  a  mile  apart,  would  not  be  less  than 
eight  millions  !     "  Stupendous  magnitude  !     Alex- 


410 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


aiidria  is  said  bj  Josephus  to  have  had  a  length  of 
30  stadia,  aud  a  width  of  uot  less  than  10  stadia. 
According  to  the  same,  the  circuit  of  Jerusalem  is 
defined  by  33  stadia;  that  of  Thebes,  according  to 
Dicsearchus,  by  43  stadia;  that  of  Nineveh,  accord- 
ing to  Diodorus  Siculus,  by  400  stadia.  Herodotus, 
in  his  first  book,  says  that  Babylon  had  120  stadia 
in  each  side,  and  480  stadia  in  each  circuit,  and 
that  its  wall  was  50  cubits  thick  and  200  cubits 
high.  This  is  12,000  stadia  every  way.  All  the 
cities  in  the  world  are  mere  villages  in  comparison 
with  thel^ew  Jerusalem."  (Bengel,  in  loc.)  Even 
the  jasper  wall  which  surrounds  it  is  higher  than 
the  highest  of  our  church  spires.  Earth  has  no 
foundations  on  which  such  a  city  could  be  set,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  materials  of  which  it  is  built; 
therefore  it  comes  forth  out  of  the  heaven  from 
God,  and  has  its  place  above  the  tops  of  the 
mountains. 

It  has  ever  been  an  anxious  question  to  believ- 
ing souls,  what  proportion  of  the  people  who  have 
lived,  or  now  live,  are  likely  to  reach  this  blessed 
city.  Men  came  to  the  Saviour  when  on  earth, 
inquiring,  "Lord,  are  there  few  that  be  saved?" 
It  is  a  complex  question  which* could  not  be  made 
profitably  clear  to  those  who  put  it,  and  it  has  no- 
wiiere  been  directly  answered.  It  is  better  that 
we  should  be  about  making^  our  own  salvation 
sure,  than  speculating  about  the  number  who 
finally  get  to  heaven.  But  the  picture  here  placed 
before  us  casts  a  light  upon  the  inquiry,  as  exalt- 
ing to  the  grace  of  God  as  it  is  encouraging  to 


LECTURBXLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  4H 

those  who  really  wish  to  be  saved.  This  golden 
citj  has  not  been  built  in  all  this  amplitude  and 
niagniticence  of  proportions  for  mere  empty  show. 
God  did  not  create  the  earth  in  vain  ;  "  he  formed 
it  to  be  inhabited."  (Is.  45:18.)  Much  rather, 
then,  would  he  not  lavish  all  this  glory  and  splen- 
dor upon  the  Eternal  City,  without  knowing  that 
enough  out  of  the  family  of  man  would  embrace 
his  salvation  to  till  and  people  it.  And  the  popu- 
lation to  fill  and  occupy  a  city  1500  miles  long, 
and  broad,  and  high,  allowing  the  amplest  room 
and  space  for  each  individual,  family,  tribe,  and 
tongue,  and  nation,  would  necessarily  mount  up  to 
myriads  on  myriads,  who  sing  the  songs  and  taste 
the  joys  of  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Amplitude — amplitude  of  numbers,  as  well  as 
glorious  accommodations — is  unmistakably  signi- 
fied, in  whatever  way  we  contemplate  the  aston- 
ishing picture. 

5.  Its  System  of  Illumination. — What  is  a  city 
without  light !  And  what  is  more  difiicult  of 
management  in  utilizing  city  spaces  than  the 
arrangements  for  light!  Fortunately  no  gas 
trusts  are  needed  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  nor 
light  of  the  sun,  nor  light  of  the  moon.  It  is  itself 
a  grand  prism  of  inherent  light,  the  Light  of  God 
and  the  Lamb,  which  illuminates  at  once  the  eyes 
of  the  body  and  of  the  soul,  and  shines  not  only 
on  the  objects  without  but  on  the  understandings 
within,  making  everything  light  in  the  Lord.  The 
glory  of  God's  brightness  envelops  it  like  an  un- 
clouded halo,  permeates  it,  and  radiates  through  it 


412  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

and  from  it  so  that  there  is  not  a  dark  or  obscure 
place  about  it.  It  shines  like  a  new  sun,  inside 
and  out,  sending  abroad  its  rajs  over  all  the  earth, 
and  into  the  depths  of  space,  making  our  planet 
seem  to  distant  worlds  as  if  suddenly  transformed 
into  a  brilliant  luminary,  whose  brightness  never 
wanes.  And  that  shining  is  not  from  any  mate- 
rial combustion, — not  from  any  consumption  of 
fuel  that  needs  to  be  replaced  as  one  supply  burns 
out;  for  it  is  the  uncreated  light  of  Him  who  is 
light,  dispensed  by  and  through  the  Lamb  as  the 
everlasting  Lamp,  to  the  home,  and  hearts,  and 
understandings,  of  his  glorified  saints.  When 
Paul  and  Silas  lay  wounded  and  bound  in  the 
inner  dungeon  of  the  prison  of  Philippi,  they  still 
had  sacred  light  which  enabled  them  to  beguile 
the  night-watches  with  happy  songs.  When  Paul 
was  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  a  light  brighter  than 
the  sun  at  noon  shone  round  about  him,  irradi- 
ating his  whole  being  with  new  sights  and  under- 
standing, and  making  his  sonl  and  body  ever 
afterwards  light  in  the  Lord.  When  Moses  came 
down  from  the  mount  of  his  communion  with  God, 
his  face  was  so  luminous  that  his  brethren  could 
not  endure  to  look  upon  it.  He  was  in  such 
close  fellowship  with  light  that  he  became  in- 
formed with  light,  and  came  to  the  camp  as  a 
very  lamp  of  God,  glowing  with  the  glory  of  God. 
On  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  that  same  light 
streamed  forth  from  all  the  body  and  raiment  of 
the  blessed  Jesus.  And  with  reference  to  the  very 
time  when  this  city  comes  into  being  and  place, 


LECTURE     XLIX.     CHAP.     21:9-27.  4^3 

Isaiah  says,  "  the  moon  shall  be  ashamed  and  the 
Bun  confounded," — ashamed  because  of  the  out- 
bearaing  glory  which  then  shall  appear  in  the 
New  Jerusalem,  leaving  no  more  need  for  them 
to  shine  in  it,  since  the  glory  of  God  lights  it,  and 
the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof. 

6.  Its  Lack  of  a  Temple. — "  A  Temple,"  says  the 
seer,  "  I  saw  not  in  it."  What  a  vacuum  it  would 
create  in  every  earthly  city  if  its  temples  were 
taken  away !  What  would  ancient  Jerusalem  have 
been  without  its  Temple?  How  much  does  the 
fame  and  glory  of  the  most  renowned  of  cities, 
ancient  and  modern,  rest  on  their  Temples  I 
Strip  them  of  these  and  what  would  be  their 
nakedness!  But  it  is  no  privation  to  the  New 
Jerusalem  that  there  is  no  Temple  in  it.  Nay,  it 
is  one  of  its  sublimest  peculiarities.  Not  that 
worship  is  then  to  cease.  Not  that  communion 
with  the  eternal  Spirit  and  Source  of  all  things  is 
no  longer  to  exist.  While  God  and  holy  beings 
live,  their  loving  adoration  of  him  cannot  cease, 
nor  acts  of  worship  be  discontinued.  But  then 
and  there  the  worship  and  communion  will  no 
longer  be  through  symbols,  veils,  and  intermedi- 
ate ceremonials,  which  now  are  needed  to  help 
the  soul  to  divine  fellowship.  Deity  will  then 
have  come  forth  from  behind  all  veils,  all  medi- 
ating sacraments,  all  previous  barriers  and  hidings 
because  of  the  infirmities  of  the  flesh  or  the  weak- 
nesses of  undeveloped  spirituality.  Himself  will 
be  the  Temple  thereof.  The  glorious  worshippers 
there  bold  direct  communion  with  his  manifested 


4^4  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

glory,  which  encompasses  them  and  all  their  city 
alike.  As  consecrated  high  priests  they  will  then 
have  come  into  the  holiest  of  all,  into  the  very 
cloud  of  God's  overshadowing  glory,  which  is  at 
once  their  covering,  their  Temple,  their  God. 

When  Jesus  walked  with  his  disciples  on  earth, 
wherever  he  was  they  had  a  Temple.  In  the 
mountains  and  wildernesses  of  retirement,  in  the 
midst  of  the  street  concourse,  on  the  heights  where 
he  was  transfigured,  in  the  upper  room  where  they 
ate  with  him  the  paschal  supper,  along  the  way  to 
Emmaus,  on  the  shores  of  Galilee,  on  the  Mount 
of  Ascension,  wherever  his  divine  presence,  power, 
and  goodness  spoke  its  "  Peace  be  unto  you,"  was 
a  Temple  to  them.  What  an  incumbrance  and 
detraction  would  have  been  Aaron's  garments, 
and  Aaron's  breastplate,  and  Aaron's  ceremonials 
of  inquiry  and  worship,  when  they  had  with  them 
"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  on  whose  bosom 
they  could  lay  their  heads,  whose  cheeks  they 
could  kiss,  whose  feet  they  could  bathe  with  their 
tears,  whose  words  they  could  hear,  and  whose 
gracious  services  and  benedictions  they  could  at 
all  times  command!  What  need  of  Solomon's 
Temple  had  they,  when  the  embodied  Shechinah 
himself,  in  ever-approachable  form,  was  with  them 
by  day  and  by  night,  their  brother,  their  master, 
their  everlasting  friend !  And  when  the  saints  in 
immortal  glory  dwell  within  the  inclosing  light  of 
the  unveiled  presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  as 
his  Bride  and  Wife,  what  more  need  have  they  of 
Temple,  or  outward  ceremonial,  to  commune  with 


LECTURE    XLIX.     CHAP.     21:9-27.  4^5 

Deity,  or  to  have  fellowship  with  the  Father  and 
the  Son  !  God  and  the  Lamb  are  then  themselves 
the  Temple,  and  the  intervention  of  any  other 
Temple  would  be  a  disability,  a  clog,  and  a  going 
back  from  the  sublime  exaltation  which  the  saints 
there  reach  aiid  enjoy.  Hence  John  saw  no 
Temple  in  that  city,  "  for  the  Lord  God,  the  All- 
Ruler,  and  the  Lamb  is  its  Temple."  The  worship 
there  is  immediate  and  direct. 

7.  Its  Relation  to  the  World  at  Large. — Of  old,  the 
song  of  the  Psalmist  was :  "  Beautiful  for  situation, 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  is  Mount  Zion,  the 
City  of  the  Great  King."  (Ps.  48 :  2.)  In  every 
land  into  which  the  Jewish  people  wandered,  there 
was  a  glad  thrill  upon  their  souls  when  they  re- 
membered Jerusalem.  Night  and  morning  they 
knelt  down  with  their  faces  thitherward  to  chant 
the  praises  of  Him  who  there  dwelt  between  the 
Cherubim ;  and  year  by  year  the  pilgrim  bands 
went  up  from  all  lands,  with  gladness  of  heart, 
and  lute,  and  song,  unto  the  mountain  of  the  Lord, 
to  the  Mighty  One  of  Israel.  Thither  came  the 
tribes  of  the  Lord,  unto  the  Testimony  of  Israel,  to 
give  thanks  unto  the  ITame  of  the  Lord  ;  for  there 
were  set  the  thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of 
the  house  of  David.  (Ps.  122.)  Out  of  Zion  went 
the  law,  and  the  Word  of  the  Lord  from  Jeru- 
salem. We  cannot  look  back  upon  those  times, 
even  now,  without  a  degree  of  fascination  which 
draws  like  a  magnet  upon  every  feeling  of  the 
heart.  And  what  was  then  realized  on  a  small 
and  feeble  scale,  in  the  case  of  one  people,  is  to  be 
VOL.  III.  84 


416  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  universal  experience  with  regard  to  this 
blessed  city.  It  is  to  be  the  centre  and  illuminator 
of  the  world. 

"  The  nations  shall  walk  by  7neans  of  the  light 
of  it."  Spiritual  illumination  for  the  soul,  as  well 
as  glorious  light  for  the  eyes, — the  light  of 
truth  and  righteousness,  and  the  light  of  Life  for 
all  wants,  personal,  social,  and  national,  in  the  re- 
deemed family  of  man, — shall  go  forth  from  that 
sublime  city  ;  and  ''  the  nations  "  shall  walk  in 
that  light.  Their  polity,  their  religion,  and  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  for  them  an  economy  of 
Edenic  blessedness,  shall  come  forth  from  that 
sublime  metropolis.  Their  kings,  their  judges, 
their  priests,  their  loving  guides,  their  Saviour, 
their  only  Lord  God,  are  there,  visible  to  their 
eyes,  and  ever  present  to  their  hearts  and  minds. 
What  never  yet  has  been  upon  this  earth,  a  really 
holy  nation,  will  then  be  found  wherever  man  is 
found,  and  all  people  shall  be  the  people  of  the 
Lord.  Men  talk  of  Christian  nations  ;  but,  in  all 
this  dwelling-place  of  man,  from  the  beginning 
until  now,  there  is  nothing  of  the  sort  to  answer 
to  the  phrase.  There  is  no  such  thing,  and  there 
never  will  be,  till  the  ^ew  Earth  appears,  and  the 
New  Jerusalem  comes  into  the  view  of  men.  But 
then,  all  nations,  as  nations,  shall  be  sanctified 
and  holy ;  for  they  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  the 
Eternal  City  of  the  Eternal  King.  That  City, 
raised  aloft,  and  filled  with  the  Spirit  and  glory  of 
God  and  the  Lamb,  will  be  the  illumination  and 
the  great  glory  of  the  world,  the  centre  of  suprera- 


SiBCTURE    XLIX.    CHAP.    21:9-27.  417 

est  interest, — the  joy  of  the  waking  thoughts  and 
the  sleeping  dreams  of  all  the  children  of  men. 

"  And  the  kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  and 
honor  to  {or  into)  it"  The  Kings  will  then  be 
Christ  and  his  glorified  saints.  These  will  reside 
in  this  city,  and  whatever  pertains  to  them  as 
kings  will  have  its  centre  and  seat  there.  Their 
glory  as  kings,  their  authority  and  their  thrones, 
will  all  go  to  honor,  dignify,  and  distinguish  this 
city.  And  if  by  "  kings  of  the  earth  "  we  are  to 
understand  sub-kings  belonging  to  unglorified 
humanity,  the  statement  implies  that  the  homage 
and  gratitude  of  earthly  royalty  will  then  devote 
everything  of  greatness  and  glory  that  it  possesses 
to  the  service  and  honor  of  that  city. 

"  And  they  shall  bring  the  glory  and  reverence  of  the 
nations  to  (or  into)  it."  All  the  honor  the  world 
can  give  will  be  given  to  that  city.  All  nations, 
as  one  man,  shall  then  be  happy  worshippers,  and 
all  devotion  shall  concentre  in  the  New  Jerusalem. 
All  eyes,  all  ears,  shall  be  turned  to  it.  And  all 
the  honor  that  men  can  render,  and  all  the  delight 
the  human  heart  can  feel,  will  flow  forever  to 
that  high  tabernacle,  whose  gates  are  never  shut, 
and  where  no  night  is  ever  known. 

8.  Its  Superlative  Holiness. — "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy, 
is  the  Lord  God  of  hosts,"  cried  the  six-winged 
Seraphim ;  and  where  that  God  is,  only  what  is 
holy  can  find  place.  This  is  "  the  mountain  of  his 
Holiness,"  the  city  where  his  glory  dwells;  there- 
fore no  common  or  unclean  thing  can  ever  enter  it, 
nor  any  on«  that  doeth  abomination,  or  worketh 


418  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

what  is  false.  "  Holy  things  for  holy  people,^^  was 
the  announcement  given  out  by  the  Church  for 
many  ages  whenever  about  to  present  the  mystery 
of  the  holy  Supper;  and  a  similar  word  forever 
flames  around  those  gates  of  pearl.  The  city  is 
ample;  it  is  magnificent;  and  there  is  place 
within  it  for  every  one  ready  and  willing  to  be- 
come its  denizen ;  but  it  is  "  holy,^'  and  no  one 
can  ever  set  foot  upon  its  golden  streets  who  is 
not  enrolled  in  the  book  of  life  of  the  Lamb. 
Sinners  may  come  there,  yes;  for  sinners  it  was 
made;  but  only  for  such  as  are  cleansed  in  the 
proffered  bath  of  regeneration,  by  the  washing 
of  water  and  the  word,  i^o  place  is  there  for  them 
that  believe  not  in  Jesus,  and  submit  not  them- 
selves to  his  saving  righteousness.  No  place  is 
there  for  them  that  say,  "  Lord,  Lord/'  but  do  not 
the  things  which  he  has  commanded.  And  if  any 
love  their  sins  better  than  God's  salvation,  the 
New  Jerusalem  is  not  for  them.  It  is  for  those 
only  whose  names,  through  faith  and  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  Spirit,  have  been  written  in  the  Lamb's 
book  of  life. 

Such,  then,  in  brief,  is  that  holy  City  which  has 
been  glittering  in  the  imaginations  and  the  songs 
of  God's  people,  in  every  age  and  under  all  dis- 
pensation. Its  foundations  by  their  colors  speak 
of  grace,  mercy,  and  God's  sure  covenant  earth- 
ward. Its  gates  of  pearl  speak  of  righteousness, 
obedience,  and  the  heart  set  on  the  precious  things 
of  the  divine  kingdom,  as  the  medium  of  transit 
from   earth   to  glory.      Its   cubic   form,  and  its 


LECTURE    XLIX.     CHAP.    21:9-27.  4ig 

streets  and  constructions  of  purest  gold,  proclaim 
it  the  embodiment  of  all  perfection,  the  su- 
premest  seat  of  the  supremest  saintship.  And 
within  those  immortal  gates,  in  the  very  presence 
and  company  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  surrounded 
with  light,  riches,  and  splendors  beyond  all  that 
human  thought  can  estimate,  amid  the  liberties, 
securities,  and  perfections  of  the  highest  of  all  the 
material  creations  of  gracious  Omnipotence,  as  the 
jewelled  link  between  the  Eternal  Father  and  his 
redeemed  earthly  family,  and  with  a  strength  that 
walks  unshaken  under  all  the  exceeding  and  eter- 
nal weight  of  glory,  the  Church  of  the  first-born, 
the  Bride  and  Wife  of  Christ,  shall  live  and  reign 
with  him,  day  without  end,  for  the  ages  of  the 
ages. 

Exult,  O  dust  and  ashes, 

Thy  God  shall  be  thy  part  I 
His  only,  His  forever, 

Thou  shalt  be  and  thou  art ! 


LEOTUEE  FIFTIETH. 

the  new  jerusalem  continued — a  more  ixward  view — 
the  wonderful  river — the  tree  of  life — the  curse 
repealed — the  everlasting  throne— the  eternal 
blessedne:ss. 


Rev.  22  :  1-5.  ^Revised  Text.)  And  he  showed  me  a  river  of  water 
of  life  clear  as  crystal,  coming  forth  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the 
Lamb.  In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it  [the  city]  and  on  either  side  of 
the  river,  tree  of  life  producing  twelve  fruits  [or  khrds  of  fruit],  ac- 
cording to  each  month  yielding  its  fruit,  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree 
anto  healing  of  the  nations.  And  every  curse  [or  accursed  thing], 
shall  not  be  any  more ;  and  the  Throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall 
be  in  it,  and  his  servants  shall  serve  him,  and  they  shall  see  his  face,  and 
the  name  of  him  [shall  be]  upon  their  foreheads  ;  and  night  shall  not 
be  any  more,  and  they  shall  not  have  need  of  lamp  and  light,  because 
the  Lord  God  shall  shine  upon  them,  and  they  shall  reign  to  the  ages 
of  the  ages. 

nnilE  Apostle  here  continues  his  description  of 
-■-  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  for  this  reason  these 
verses  should  not  have  been  separated  from  the 
section  which  precedes  them.  They  relate  to  the 
same  subject,  and  have  nothing  to  mark  them  from 
what  has  gone  before,  except  that  they  refer  more 
to  the  interior  of  the  heavenly  city.  The  descrip- 
tion throughout  is  rather  external  than  internal. 
John  s-aw  from  the  outside,  and  from. a  distance; 
and  his  account  is  necessarily  more  occupied  with 
what  the  city  is  to  those  who  contemplate  it  from 
(  420  ) 


LECTURE    L.     CHAP.    22:1-5.  421 

without,  than  with  what  it  is  in  itself  or  to  those 
who  have  their  homes  in  its  "  many  mansions.'' 
The  reason  may  be  that  it  is  not  possible  for  us  to 
form  right  conceptions  of  things  so  much  above 
and  beyond  all  present  experiences.  When  Paul 
recovered  from  his  trance-vision  of  Paradise,  and 
the  third  heaven,  he  said  that  it  was  not  permitted 
him  to  tell  the  transcendent  things  which  he 
saw  and  heard.  And  so  John  is  not  brought  to 
such  a  view  of  the  sublime  palace  of  the  saints 
as  to  tell  us  all  about  its  internal  economy.  Yet, 
what  was  shown  him,  as  narrated  in  these  verses, 
relates  more  to  the  inside,  than  what  we  had  be- 
fore us  a  week  ago.  To  these  more  inner  par- 
ticulars, then,  let  us  direct  our  thoughts,  humbly 
looking  to  God  to  aid  us  to  form  right  impressions 
of  his  glorious  revelations. 

It  is  due  to  remark  that  we  here  have  the  final 
touches  in  the  picture  of  the  eternal  future.  These 
verses  give  us  the  furthest  and  fullest  outlook  into 
the  everlasting  economies.  Precious,  therefore, 
sbould  it  be  to  us.  With  what  deep  and  anxious  at- 
tention should  we  dwell  on  every  intimation,  and 
cherish  every  image!  Even  when  about  to  leave 
ofi:' contemplating  some  noted  earthly  picture,  we 
always  turn  to  take  a  last  impression  to  carry  with 
us  as  we  depart.  How  much  rather,  then,  should 
we  incline  our  energies  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  these 
richest  and  fullest  delineations  of  that  ultimate 
home  to  which  we  aspire,  beyond  which  there  is 
no  further  knowledge  to  be  had  till  we  come  to 
take  up  our  everlasting  residence  there  ! 


422 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


Very  noteworthy  also  is  it  that  these  last 
crlimpses  of  a  finished  Redemption  end  up  with 
the  same  images  with  which  the  first  chapter  of 
human  history  begun.  All  worlds  move  in  circles; 
and  the  grand  march  of  God's  providence  with 
man  moves  in  one  immense  round.  It  starts 
with  Paradise,  and  thence  moves  out  through 
strange  and  untried  paths,  until  it  has  fulfilled  its 
grand  revolution  by  coming  back  to  the  point 
from  which  it  started ;  not  indeed  to  repeat  itself, 
but  thenceforward  to  rest  forever  in  the  results  of 
that  wonderful  experiment.  Genesis  is  the  Book 
of  beginnings  ;  the  Revelation  is  the  Book  of  the 
endings  of  what  was  then  begun ;  and  the  last 
laps  back  again  upon  the  first,  and  welds  the  two 
ends  of  the  history  into  the  golden  ring  of  eternity. 
There  was  a  time  of  innocence,  and  then  came  a 
long  and  dreary  time  of  the  absence  of  innocence ; 
and  here  we  are  shown  the  time  of  innocence  re- 
turned, to  depart  no  more.  l!Tor  is  it  without  the 
most  cheering  significance,  that  in  the  account  of 
the  final  consummation  we  again  come  upon  a 
group  of  objects  answering  to  the  most  conspicu- 
ous and  fondly  remembered  in  all  the  bright  story 
of  the  original  opening  of  the  world. 

I.  The  Apostle  begins  by  telling  us  of  a  wonder- 
ful River. 

One  of  the  gladdest  things  on  earth  is  water. 
There  is  nothing  in  all  the  world  so  precious  to 
the  eye  and  imagination  of  the  inhabitant  of 
the  dry,  burninsf    and   thirsty   East,  as   a    plen- 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22:1-5.  423 

tiful  supply  of  bright,  pure,  and  living  water. 
Paradise  itself  was  not  complete  without  it. 
Hence  ''a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the 
garden ;  and  from  thence  it  was  parted  and  be- 
came into  four  heads,"  rolling  their  bright  cur- 
rents over  golden  sands  and  sparkling  gems 
(Gen.  2  :  10-12),  as  if  meant  to  water  and  gladden 
all  the  earth.  "  A  city  without  water  would  be  a 
most  disconsolate  and  unpleasant  thing;  there- 
fore we  see  cities  at  the  greatest  pains  to  provide 
themselves  with  water,  and  those  are  reckoned 
the  best  which  are  the  most  happily  watered.  It 
is  one  of  the  great  excellencies  of  Ezekiel's  city, 
that  it  has  a  river  ever  deepening  as  it  flows." 
(Ezek.  47:3.)  And  so  the  New  Jerusalem  is  not 
without  its  plentiful  supply  of  living  waters.  Of 
the  angel  who  came  to  show  him  this  great  me- 
tropolis of  the  saints,  John  says:  ^'And  he  showed 
me  a  river  of  water  of  life,  bright  as  crystal,  coming 
forth  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamk'^ 

With  whatever  tenacity  the  interpreters  of  this 
Book  cling  to  the  notion  that  waters,  in  prophetic 
language,  always  mean  peoples,  they  give  it  up 
when  it  comes  to  this  Eiver.  Peoples  do  not  issue 
from  the  throne  of  God.  But  what  to  make  of 
this  water  they  hardly  know.  Some  make  it 
Baptism.  Some  make  it  saving  knowledge,  flow- 
ing out  from  God  over  all  the  habitable  world. 
Some  make  it  the  grace  of  God  through  the 
preaching  of  Christ  crucified.  Some  make  it  the 
giving  of  peace  \o  the  perturbed  nations.  Some 
make  it  "  the  renewing  and  sanctifying  influences 


424  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

by  which  the  nations  are  to  be  imbued  with  spir- 
itual life."  Some  make  it  a  mere  Oriental  image 
of  abounding  happiness  and  plenty.  And  many 
who  even  see  in  the  description  a  picture  of  Para- 
dise regained,  are  still  so  fettered  down  to  the 
present  world,  that  they  cannot  get  on  with  it 
above  or  beyond  what  is  purely  earthy.  Why 
cannot  men  see  and  read  that  it  does  not  belong  to 
the  earth  at  all,  nor  to  any  earthly  people,  or  any 
earthly  good.  There  is  not  a  word  said  to  show 
that  these  w^aters  in  this  particular  form  ever  touch 
the  earth,  or  any  dwellers  on  the  earth.  The  river 
is  a  heavenly  river,  and  belongs  to  a  heavenly  city, 
and  is  for  the  use  and  joy  of  a  heavenly  people. 
Its  waters  are  literal  waters,  of  a  nature  and  qual- 
ity answering  to  that  of  the  golden  city  to  which 
they  belong.  Man  on  earth  never  knew  such 
waters,  as  men  on  earth  never  knew  such  a  city ; 
but  the  city  is  a  sublime  reality, — the  home  and 
residence  of  the  Lamb  and  his  glorious  Bride, — 
and  these  waters  are  a  corresponding  reality.  Of 
old,  the  Psalmist  sung,  "  There  is  a  river,  the 
streams  whereof  shall  make  glad  the  city  of  God, 
the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacles  of  the  Most 
High  "  (Ps.  46 :  4),  "  the  river  of  God's  pleasures,'' 
where  they  that  put  their  trust  under  the  shadow 
of  his  wings  shall  be  abundantly  satisfied  with  the 
fatness  of  his  dwelling-place,  even  at  the  head- 
spring of  life,  amid  visions  of  light  in  the  pavilion 
of  his  glory.  (Ps.  36 : 7-9.)  Heaven  is  not  a  place 
of  dust  and  drought.  It  has  its  glad  water-spring 
and  ever-flowing  river,  issuing   direct  from   the 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22:1-5.  425 

eternal  throne,  whose  crystal  clearness  cannot  be 
defiled.  There  flow  the  immortal  waters,  for  the 
joy  of  glorified  natures,  bright  with  the  light  of 
God,  and  filling  all  with  life-cheer  as  immortal  as 
themselves. 

These  waters  are  called  "water  of  life  comino: 
forth  out  of  the  throne."  They  are  the  issuing 
life  of  the  throne,  as  the  city  itself  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  God's  glory.  The  throne  is  the  throne 
of  the  Lamb,  in  whom  is  the  eternal  Godhead. 
The  Father  reigns  in  and  through  the  Son,  and 
this  is  the  reviving  and  all-animating  life  and  spirit 
of  all  this  embodiment  of  Deity  in  that  sublime 
city.  It  is  the  Holy  Ghost  for  that  celestial  Taber- 
nacle, as  God  and  the  Lamb  are  the  Temple  of  it. 
It  is  the  divine  emanation  from  the  Father  and 
the  Son  which  fills  and  cheers  and  forever  rejoices 
the  dwellers  in  that  place.  These  waters  also 
come  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  and  refresh 
and  bless  them  too,  as  these  celestial  king-priests 
have  to  do  with  the  people  of  the  earth ;  but  they 
reach  the  earthly  population  in  other  forms,  and 
not  in  the  form  of  this  voluminous  river.  In  this 
form  they  belong  to  the  Holy  City  alone.  Only 
these  saints  in  glory  come  to  the  throne,  and  share 
its  life  and  administration  ;  and  for  them  alone  is 
the  crystal  river  which  issues  from  it.  It  is  the 
Spirit  of  glory  which  they  drink  and  embody ; 
and  it  is  for  their  pleasure  and  blessedness,  as  to 
no  other  class  of  the  human  family.  Yet  we  are 
not  without  something  of  those  waters  in  the 
saving  administrations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  even 


426  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

now,  and  the  dwellers  in  the  'New  Earth  shall 
have  more  of  them  than  we  have ;  but  neither  now 
nor  then  can  those  living  in  the  flesh  have  them  in 
anything  of  the  unmingled  purity,  heavenliness, 
and  glorious  fulness  with  which  they  flow  forever 
in  the  New  Jerusalem.  In  the  first  Eden,  "there 
went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  and  watered  the 
whole  face  of  the  ground."  (Gen.  2 : 6.)  There 
was  a  watering  through  an  earthly  medium.  And 
in  some  such  mediate  way  these  waters  come  to 
the  Church  now,  and  will  come  still  more  plente- 
ously  to  the  nations  when  this  Great  City  comes 
to  its  place.  Bat  in  the  Holy  City  they  roll  as  a 
river,  through  no  secondary  medium,  and  give 
forth  their  exhaustless  blessedness  direct  from  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

The  Jordan  is  often  spoken  of  as  a  sacred  river, 
and  many  sacred  memories  connect  with  it. 
Palestine's  penitent  thousands  there  flocked  to 
the  wild  Baptizer,  and  sought  in  that  stream  to 
wash  away  their  sins.  Thither  the  Saviour  him- 
self came,  to  receive  upon  his  spotless  person  those 
same  censecrating  waters.  But  Jordan  is  the  sym- 
bol of  earthly,  not  heavenly  life.  Bright  and 
beautiful  in  its  cradle,  it  laughs  away  its  merry 
morning  amid  the  flowery  fields  of  Hiileh;  then 
plunges  with  the  recklessness  of  youth  into  the 
tangled  brakes  and  muddy  marshes  of  Merom;  and 
thence  it  issues  full-grown,  like  earnest  manhood 
with  its  noisy  bustle,  dashing  along  till  it  quiets 
into  a  picture  of  life's  sober  midday  in  the  placid 
Lake  of  Genesareth.     Thence  its  course  is  down, 


LECTURE    L.     CHAP.    22:1-5.  427 

down,  like  the  declivities  of  age,  sinking  lower 
and  lower  amid  doublings  and  windings  innumer- 
able, until  it  finally  reaches  the  sea  of  death, 
where  there  is  no  remedy  but  to  breathe  itself  out 
upon  the  thin  air,  and  vanish  in  the  clouds.  Like 
human  life,  it  is  mostly  a  turbid  and  clouded 
stream.  This,  however,  is  a  difierent  river,  and 
betokens  a  very  difierent  life.  It  rises  from  no 
dark  caves  of  earth.  It  does  not  grow  from  addi- 
tions from  without.  It  has  no  windings,  no  stag- 
nations, no  obstructions,  no  clouds,  no  muddiness, 
no  rising  and  falling,  no  sea  of  death,  no  precipi- 
tations of  earthiness,  no  evaporations  to  deadly 
asphalt  and  salt.  The  life  it  symbolizes,  and  is, 
and  gives,  is  divine  life,  the  life  of  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb,  the  life  that  rolls  forth  in 
highest  fulness  from  its  living  source,  pellucid  as 
the  city  which  it  supplies,  and  as  unfailing  and 
all-gladdening  as  the  Spirit  of  holiness  itself.  O 
the  blessedness  of  the  eyes  that  see  and  the  people 
who  enjoy  this  river  of  God — these  crystal  waters 
of  eternal  life. 

II.  In  the  next  place  the  Apostle  tells  us  of  a 
wonderful  Tree. 

What  is  more  beautiful  than  trees?  What  a 
charm  they  add  to  our  world  !  What  a  joy  they 
are  to  the  monotony  of  a  city  !  How  did  the  fancy 
of  the  Greek  poets  revel  in  the  hanging  gardens 
and  artificial  forest  scenery  with  which  the  king 
of  Babylon  adorned  his  imperial  city  to  gratify 
his  Median  queen!      There  trees  twelve  feet  iu 


428  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

circumference,  fifty  feet  in  height,  grew  on  mounds 
of  masonry,  nodding  like  woods  on  their  moun- 
tains, and  still  defying  the  wastes  of  time  in  the 
days  of  Quintus  Curtius.  The  first  Eden  had  its 
glad  and  glorious  trees,  "  the  tree  of  life  also  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden."  (Gen.  2 :  9.)  It  was  not 
one  individual  tree,  but  a  particular  tree  as  to  its 
kind,  as  we  speak  of  "the  apple"  or  "the  oak," 
denoting  a  species  of  which  there  are  many  speci- 
mens. It  has  the  name  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  be- 
cause man  in  innocence  was  to  keep  and  preserve 
his  life  by  eating  of  its  fruits.  It  was  the  symbol 
and  support  of  eternal  life,  both  for  body  and  for 
soul.  And  it  is  one  of  the  special  joys  and  pro- 
visions of  the  I^ew  Jerusalem  that  it  is  supplied 
with  this  same  tree,  in  the  same  multitudinous 
sense,  fulfilling  something  of  the  same  oflaces. 
"  In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  the  city,  avd  on  either  side 
of  the  river, ^^  John  saw  "  the  Tree  of  Life  [in  numer- 
ous specimens]  producing  twelve  fruits  [or  kinds  of 
fruit],  according  to  ecich  month  yielding  its  fruit ;  and 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  unto  the  healing  of  the  nations." 

In  Ezekiel's  visions  of  the  renewed  earthly  Jeru- 
salem, a  similar  presentation  is  made.  There  a 
river  issues  from  the  sanctuary  and  runs  down 
into  the  sea, of  which  the  angel  said,  "By  the  river, 
upon  the  bank  thereof,  on  this  side  and  on  that 
side,  shall  grow  all  trees  for  meat,  whose  leaf  shall 
not  fade,  neither  shall  the  fruit  thereof  be  con- 
sumed :  it  shall  bring  forth  new  fruit  according  to 
his  months ;  because  their  waters  issue  out  of  the 
sanctuary  ;  and  the  fruit  thereof  shall  be  for  meat. 


LECTURE    L.     CHAP.    22:1-5.  429 

and  the  leaf  thereof  for  medicine."  (Ezek.  47:12.) 
But  that  relates  to  an  order  of  things  on  earth, 
which  comes  into  being  during  the  thousand  years. 
What  John  describes  is  the  order  of  things  in  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem,  which  comes  into  existence 
only  after  the  thousand  years  have  passed  away. 
But  the  one  has  its  model  in  the  other,  the  earthly 
is  a  picture  of  the  heavenly.  The  trees  in  both 
cases  line  the  river;  but  in  the  earthly  order  they 
are  outside  of  the  city ;  and  though  bread  trees, 
they  are  not  the  Tree  of  Life.  The  heavenly 
River  issues  not  from  the  sanctuary  but  from  the 
throne.  It  does  not  flow  to  the  sea,  but  through 
the  avenues  and  streetway  of  the  city.  From  the 
grand  centre  of  the  whole  establishment  it  seems 
to  flow  through  the  midst  of  all  the  streetway  in 
the  city  ;  that  is  through  every  street.  And  both 
sides  of  it  are  lined  w^ith  the  Tree  of  Life  ;  so  that 
all  the  myriad  mansions  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
thus  open  upon  the  Tree  and  the  River  of  Life. 

These  trees,  like  the  River  whose  sides  they 
line,  are  first  of  all  for  the  joy  and  blessedness  of 
the  dwellers  in  the  Holy  City,  to  beautify  their 
eternal  home,  and  to  minister  to  their  happiness. 
They  are  fruit-bearing  trees,  yielding  their  prod- 
ucts every  month,  and  each  month  a  new  va- 
riety. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  whether  the  o;lorified  saints 
are  to  eat  in  heaven  ?  We  may  safely  answer  that 
they  can  eat^  although  under  no  need  to  eat ;  just  as 
we  can  enjoy  a  rose,  and  yet  not  sufter  from  its  ab- 
sence.    The  Saviour  after  his  glorious  resurrection 


430  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

did  eat,  even  of  the  coarse  food  of  mortals.  The 
angels  did  eat  of  Sarah^s  cakes  and  of  Abraham's 
dressed  calf.  (Gen.  18  :  6-8.)  There  is  also  much 
that  is  moral  and  spiritual  in  eating.  It  was  by 
eating  that  the  fall  and  all  its  consequences  came 
into  the  world.  All  the  holy  appointments  of 
God  in  the  old  economy  had  eating  connected 
with  them.  The  highest  impartation  of  Christ 
and  his  salvation  to  his  people  on  earth  is  done 
in  connection  with  a  sacred  eating  and  drinking. 
The  Saviour  several  times  refers  to  eating  and 
drinking  in  the  kingdom  of  glory.  He  again  and 
again  likens  the  whole  provision  of  grace  to  a 
banquet,  a  feast.  One  of  the  most  emphasized 
scenes  of  the  future,  to  which  this  Apocalypse  re- 
fers, is  a  supper,  even  the  supper  of  the  marriage 
of  the  Lamb.  And  so  the  implication  here  is  that 
there  will  be  eating  in  this  Eternal  City,  the  eating 
of  fruits,  the  eating  of  the  monthly  products  of  the 
Tree  of  Life.  The  inhabitants  there  drink  Life- 
water,  and  they  eat  Life-fruits. 

The  eating  of  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life  in 
the  first  Paradise  was  the  sacrament  of  fellowship 
with  life,  a  commemoration,  pledge,  support,  and 
participation  of  life  eternal,  for  soul  and  body. 
Hence  sin  cut  off  man  from  it ;  and  all  the  ordi- 
nances and  ministries  of  grace  since  that  time  are 
meant  for  his  recovery  and  readmission  to  that 
Tree.  Hence  also  the  promise  was  given  to  the 
Church  of  Ephesus,  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will 
I  give  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  which  is  in  the 
Paradise  of  my  God."  (Kev.  2  ;  7.)     And  so  again, 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22  :  1  -  5.  43^ 

"  Blessed  they  who  wash  their  robes,  that  they 
may  have  right  to  the  Tree  of  Life."  (Rev.  22  :  14.) 
Like  the  golden  table  of  shewbread  which  ever 
stood  in  the  ancient  Tabernacle  and  Temple  for 
the  priests  to  eat,  so  the  Tree  of  Life  stands  in 
all  the  golden  streetway  of  the  iSTew  Jerusalem, 
with  its  monthly  fruit  for  the  immortal  king-priests 
of  heaven.  And  whether  they  need  it  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  undecaying  immortality  or  not,  it  is 
everywhere  presented  as  one  of  the  most  precious 
privileges  of  God's  glorified  saints.  We  cannot 
suppose  that  they  ever  hunger  or  thirst  in  that 
high  realm,  or  that  there  is  ever  any  waste  in  their 
immortal  energies  needing  recuperation  from 
physical  digestion ;  but  still  the  participation  of 
these  Life-fruits  bespeaks  a  communion  with  Life, 
the  joy  of  which  exceeds  all  present  compre- 
hension. 

But  these  trees  are  for  a  still  further  purpose. 
The  leaves  of  them  are  for  the  healing  of  the  na- 
tions. As  the  fruits  add  to  the  joys  of  heaven, 
the  leaves  add  to  the  joys  of  earth.  Who  gathers 
them,  and  how  they  are  applied,  and  what  the 
healing  is  which  they  are  to  work,  is  not  told  us, 
and  it  is  vain  to  attempt  to  be  wise  above  what  is 
written.  But  "nations"  are  then  to  be  who  eat 
not  of  these  fruits,  though  benefited  by  the  leaves 
in  connection  with  which  the  fruits  are  produced. 
Two  classes  of  people  are  thus  distinctly  recog- 
nized in  the  new  heaven  and  earth ; — a  class  in 
glory  who  get  the  fruits  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  and 
a  class  in  the  estate  of  "nations"  who  get  the 
VOL.  III.  85 


432  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

leaves;  but,  whether  fruits  or  leaves,  a  great  and 
glorious  blessing.  As  there  will  always  be  need 
for  the  ministrations  of  these  celestial  king-priests 
to  those  dwelling  on  the  earth,  so  will  those 
ministrations  also  bring  them  the  healing  leaves 
from  the  Tree  of  Life.  As  the  Life-waters  are 
not  wholly  shut  up  in  the  city,  but  descend  in  a 
form  to  men  on  the  earth ;  so  the  Life-tree,  in  a 
form,  yields  its  benefits  to  them  too.  The  meaning 
is  not  that  the  nations  are  full  of  sicknesses  and 
ailments;  for  these  remains  of  the  curse  are  gone 
then,  though  it  may  be  from  the  virtue  of  these 
leaves.  The  meaning  rather  is  the  preservation 
of  health  and  comfort,  and  not  that  maladies  then 
exist  to  be  removed.  The  Life-leaves  are  for  the 
conservation  and  augmentation  of  Life-blessedness 
of  men  on  earth,  as  the  Life-fruits  are  for  the  joy 
of  the  saints  in  heaven. 

IIL  The  Apostle  further  informs  us  that  there 
all  sin  and  its  ill  consequences  w^ill  no  more  be. 

The  first  Paradise  was  glorious ;  but  with  all 
its  blessedness,  sin  entered  it,  and  the  curse  came, 
under  which  earth  and  man  have  been  laboring 
and  sighing  for  six  thousand  years.  Hence,  with 
all  the  transcendent  glory  described  by  the  Apos- 
tle, the  question  might  still  be  open  as  to  its  per- 
manence,— whether  sin  might  not  again  insinuate 
itself,  with  its  ever- attending  spoliations.  Man 
once  had  a  happy  and  unabridged  right  to  the 
Tree  of  Life,  but  lost  it;  and  that  Tree,  and  all 
the  Garden  in  which  it  grew,  evanished  from  him, 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22:1-5.  433 

and  left  the  world  smoking  under  the  tokens  of 
Jehovah's  anger.  The  curse  came.  It  came  upon 
man  himself  and  all  his  seed.  It  came  upon  inno- 
cent nature  with  which  he  stood  connected.  It 
came  upon  the  very  ground  on  his  account.  Might 
not  the  same  happen  again,  even  to  Paradise  re- 
gained ?  Therefore  the  special  assurance  is  here 
inserted,  that  ''  every  curse,  or  accursed  thing,  shall 
not  be  any  more.''  The  relief  from  it  is  to  be  an 
eternal  relief.  Its  disappearance  from  all  this 
scene  of  things  is  to  be  an  everlasting  disappear- 
ance. The  glory  and  blessedness  will  never  again 
give  place  to  darkness,  sin,  and  death. 

I  do  not  fancy  that  the  freedom  of  man  redeemed 
will  be  any  more  constrained  than  it  was  when 
man  first  sinned;  but  the  victory  having  been 
fairly  achieved,  under  far  mightier  trials,  by  the 
second  Adam,  the  Tempter  will  be  restrained,  a 
training  and  experience  will  then  be  upon  the 
redeemed  which  will  stand  like  a  wall  between 
them  and  danger,  and  the  love  and  appreciation 
of  what  has  been  so  dearly  purchased  will  be  so 
intense  and  high  after  all  these  ages  of  the  reign 
of  sin  and  death  that  they  will  never  consent  for 
anything  to  let  it  go.  Holy  angels  stand  fast  in 
their  blessedness  forever,  not  because  they  are 
less  free  to  sin  than  were  those  who  kept  not  their 
first  estate ;  but  because,  having  stood  the  test, 
the  whole  momentum  of  their  moral  being  moves 
only  towards  what  is  true  and  good,  and  so  they 
never  fall.  And  such  shall  be  the  security  of  man 
redeemed.     Stationed  on  the  high  vantage-ground 


434 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


of  a  victory  won  through  pain  and  suffering,  and 
made  strong  in  the  unfailing  helps  and  mercies 
of  his  God,  there  will  be  no  more  fuel  left  in  him 
for  sin  to  kindle,  and  no  more  curse  or  danger  to 
him  forever. 

Being  innocent,  man  ate  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edofe  of  ffood  and  evil,  and  learned  to  know  eviL 
For  all  these  weary  ages  he  has  been  tasting  and 
experiencing  the  bitterness  of  evil.  Through  the 
redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  they  that  be- 
lieve in  him  come  to  know  good;  and  knowing 
good,  there  will  be  no  more  turning  of  their  hearts 
from  it,  and  hence  no  more  sinning  and  no  more 
curse.  And  man  being  finally  and  permanently 
redeemed,  everything  that  has  been  disordered, 
disabled,  or  cursed  for  man's  sake,  shall  also  be 
permanently  delivered.  (Rom.  8 :  9-23.) 

When  God  pronounced  judgment  upon  the  sins 
committed  in  the  first  Paradise,  "  Unto  the  woman 
he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and 
thy  conception ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth 
children  ;  and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband, 
and  he  shall  rule  over  thee."  (Gen.  3  :  15.)  All 
this  was  imposed  as  penalty  and  curse,  peculiar  to 
her  who  "was  first  in  transgression."  But  here 
the  assurance  is  that  it  will  be  completely  lifted 
off,  and  be  no  more.  (Com.  1  Tim.  2 :  15.)  "  And 
unto  Adam  he  said.  Because  thou  hast  hearkened 
to  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree, 
of  which  I  commanded  thee,  saying.  Thou  shalt 
not  eat  of  it;  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake; 
in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy 


LECTURE    L.    CUAP.    22:1-6.  435 

Jife;  thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth 
to  thee;  and  thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field  ; 
in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till 
thou  return  unto  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast 
thou  taken  :  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt 
thou  return."  (Gen.  3 :  17-19.)     Here  was  penalty 
and  curse,  whose  potent  condemnation  has  been 
binding  and  afflicting  earth  and  man  from  that 
day   to   this.      It   afl'ects   all   the   elements   man 
touches,  and  the  whole  order  of  things  amid  which 
he  lives.      It  affects  what  he  eats  and  what  he 
drinks,  the  air  he  breathes  and  the  ground  on 
which  he  walks.     It  affects  all  the  growths  of  na- 
ture in  all  its  sublunary  kingdoms,  and  conditions 
the  seasons  and  the  sea.     It  has  opened  the  ave- 
nues of  disease,  calamity,  and  death,  till  the  earth 
is  no  longer  habitable  for  man,  except  for  a  few 
brief  years.     Everywhere,  on  everything,  we  read 
and  have  it  flashed  upon  us,  that  man  is  a  sinner ; 
that  a  fearful  condemnation  hangs  over  him;  that 
a  curse  for  his  sin  is  festering  in  all  that  pertains 
to  him  and  his  dwelling-place.     But  it  is  not  in- 
curable.     The   remedy  may  be   long  in   taking 
effect,   but   it   is    provided, — provided   in    Jesus 
Christ,  his  achievements  as  the  second  Adam,  and 
his  sovereign  power  and  purpose  to  destroy  all  the 
works  of  the  devil,  and  to  subdue  all  things  to 
himself.     The  first  note  that  John  heard  comins" 
forth  from  the  Throne  when  the  final  judgment 
was  over,  was,  '* Behold,  new  I  make  everything.-' 
(Rev.  21:5.)     And  the  effect  of  that  renewal  is 
further  stated  in  the  text  to  be,  that  every  curse 


436  TH^    APOCALYPSE. 

shall  cease  to  exist.  Not  of  the  holy  city  alone 
can  this  be  said;  for  there  the  curse  never  was. 
It  is  a  word  which  apjilies  above  all  to  the  place 
uliere  the  curse  has  been.  It  was  upon  woman, 
and  man,  and  earth,  and  the  economy  of  things 
on  the  earth,  that  the  sentence  was  put;  and  from 
them  therefore  must  be  its  cessation.  Nor  do  we 
go  beyond  the  necessary  implications  of  this  divine 
assurance  when  we  read  from  its  massive  terms 
that  this  whole  scene  of  earthly  life,  where  sin 
and  death  have  reigned  so  long,  will  yet  come  up 
out  of  all  its  desolations ;  that  the  very  blessedness 
of  Paradise  shall  revisit  all  its  hills  and  vales ;  and 
that  throughout  this  nether  world,  disordered,  cut 
with  graves,  and  full  of  miseries,  that  goal  of  the 
prayer  our  Lord  has  taught  us  shall  be  realized, 
when  it  shall  be  "  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.'^ 

IV,  The  Apostle  tells  us  also  of  a  glorious 
throne. 

There  is  a  central  throne  of  the  universe  where 
Christ  now^  sits  and  reigns  with  the  Eternal  Father. 
The  dominion  which  he  there  holds  as  "  head  over 
all  things  for  the  Church,''  he  is  to  deliver  up 
w^hen  the  time  for  the  great  consummation  arrives. 
He  is  now  with  the  Father  on  his  throne,  but 
there  is  another  throne  peculiarly  his  own,  v/hich 
he  will  then  take,  and  on  which  his  glorified 
people  shall  reign  with  him,  as  he  now  reigns  with 
the  Father.  (Compare  1  Cor.  15 :  24-28,  and  Rev. 
3  :  21.)  This  throne  is  in  the  New  Jerusalem.  It 
is  "the  throne  of  God,"  as  Christ  is  God;  and  it 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22:1-5.  437 

is  "  the  throne  of  the  Lamb/'  in  that  it  is  held  and 
occupied  as  the  result  of  Christ's  achievement  as 
a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  in  his  particular  character 
as  the  world's  Saviour  and  Redeemer.  It  is  the 
throne  of  God  as  the  Lamb,  the  All-Ruler,  who 
once  was  slain,  but  lives  again,  and  here  is  to 
reign  with  his  glorified  saints  to  the  ages  of  the 
ages. 

There  is  something  peculiar  about  these  thrones. 
In  the  first  three  chapters  of  this  Book,  Christ 
appears  in  the  sanctuary,  walking  amid  the  golden 
lamp-stands,  noting  and  pronouncing  upon  his 
Churches.  There  no  throne  is  visible,  for  the 
Church  is  only  the  kingdom  in  process  of  forma- 
tion, answering  to  the  period  of  Israel's  pilgrimage 
in  the  wilderness.  In  the  succeeding  chapters  a 
throne  appears;  but  with  surroundings  indicative 
of  a  special  dispensation  with  regard  to  the  old 
earth,  partly  retributive  and  partly  remedial.  It 
is  the  throne  of  the  judgment  period  which  holds 
only  during  "  the  day  of  the  Lord,"  in  which 
Christ  is  engaged  in  enforcing  the  principles  of 
his  Kingdom  and  his  claims  by  visitations  of  suc- 
cessive judgments  upon  the  world;  answering  to 
the  reign  of  the  Judges,  when  the  Ark  and  its 
accompaniments  were  yet  in  the  movable  and 
temporary  tabernacle,  and  the  kingdom  was  not 
yet  established.  With  the  Halleluias  over  the  fall 
of  Babylon,  this  particular  throne  disappears, 
and  we  see  only  the  thrones  of  the  Shepherdizers, 
who  for  a  time  rule  the  nations  with  a  rod  of 
iron;  answering  to  the  warlike  reign  of  David, 


438  '^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

when  the  preparations  for  the  Temple  were  making. 
The  last  rebellion,  typified  by  that  enacted  by  Ab- 
salom against  his  father,  having  been  put  down, 
the  "Great  White  Throne"  appears,  the  final 
judgment  throne,  with  no  signs  of  blessing,  con- 
signing all  the  unholy  dead  to  their  final  doom. 
And  then  comes  the  Holy  City  and  the  full  estab- 
lishment of  the  Kingdom  of  peace,  answering  to 
the  illustrious  reign  of  the  wise  and  peaceful  Sol- 
omon, when  the  Temple  took  its  place  on  Mount 
Moriah,  and  there  "was  neither  adversary  nor 
eviL"  In  the  Holy  City  the  throne  then  takes 
its  position,  as  the  final  throne  of  God  and  the 
Lamb  with  reference  to  the  earth  and  man.  It  is 
a  single  throne,  the  seat  and  centre  of  all  the 
authority  and  power  ever  thenceforward  put  forth 
for  the  regulation  and  government  of  human 
afiTairs.  And  its  occupants,  and  the  only  adminis- 
trants  of  its  dominion,  are  God,  the  Lamb,  and  his 
glorified  saints.  "  And  they  shall  reign  to  the  ages  of 
the  ages.^^  No  more  faulty  politics,  no  more  false 
religion,  no  more  rabble  rule  or  oppressive  tyr- 
anny, shall  then  be  any  more.  For  the  reign  of 
righteousness  has  come,  and  it  will  fail  no  more 
forever. 

V.  Finally,  the  Apostle  tells  us  of  the  condition 
of  things  under  this  administration. 

He  has  alreadj'^  given  us  somethingon  this  point. 
He  has  told  us  of  the  directness  of  communion 
with  God  in  that  Blessed  City, — of  the  centre  of 
light,  interest,  attraction,  and  holy  reverence  which 


LECTURE    L.     CHAP,    22:1-5.  435 

it  will  be  to  the  whole  earth, — of  the  joyful  obedi- 
ence with  which  the  nations  will  walk  in  its  light,— 
of  the  health  which  is  to  go  forth  from  its  immortal 
trees, — of  the  endless  and  unintermitting  light  of 
God  and  the  Lamb  which  shall  be  in  it; — but  he 
adds  still  other  items  as  instructed  by  the  angel. 

"■His  servants  shall  serve  him.'''  In  general  the 
servants  of  a  king  are  his  subjects.  So  taken, 
there  is  in  this  affirmation  a  picture  of  universal 
obedience  and  loving  devotion  ; — no  '.iiore  sin,  no 
more  rebellion,  no  more  forgetfulnes«  or  neglect 
of  the  claims  or  word  of  the  Eternal  King.  All 
life  is  to  be  permeated  and  transfigured  with  the 
most  complete  and  happy  accord  with  the  divine 
will,  which  then  is  done  "on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven."  The  prophecies  are  everywhere  full  of 
the  most  glowing  pictures  on  this  point.  Even 
the  bells  or  bridles  of  the  horses  shall  be  Holiness 
unto  the  Lord,  and  the  commonest  utensils  in  the 
houses  and  kitchens  of  mankind  shall  take  on  a 
sacredness  like  that  of  the  consecrated  vessels  of 
the  temple  itself.  (Zech.  14 :  20,  21.)  For  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea.  It  will  be  the  abounding  element 
in  which  everything  is  bathed. 

But  the  servants  of  a  king,  in  a  more  particular 
sense,  are  his  immediate  attendants,  those  who  are 
in  waiting  upon  the  throne,  and  who  act  as  its 
agents  and  representatives.  Hence,  when  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  saw  "  the  sitting  of  Solomon's 
servants,  and  the  attendance  of  his  ministers  and 
their   apparel,   and   his   cup-bearers,"    she   said: 


440  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

"Happy  are  thy  men,  happy  are  these  thy  servants 
which  stand  continually  before  iheej'  (1  Kings  10 :  5, 
8.)  So  Solomon  made  hewers  of  wood  and  draw- 
ers of  water  of  some  of  his  subjects,  but  others  he 
made  '^  men  of  war,  and  his  servants,  and  his  princes, 
and  his  captains,  and  rulers  of  his  chariots  and  his 
horsemen."  (1  Kings  9:22.)  So  the  priests,  the 
prophets,  the  ministers  of  the  Word,  and  such  as 
hold  official  rank  and  place  in  the  divine  econo- 
mies, are  more  especially  called  the  servants  of  God. 
Such  are  all  the  members  of  the  Church  of  the 
first-born,  the  elect,  the  citizens  of  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  the  sharers  in  the  administration  of 
that  holy  kingdom.  And  of  these  especially  is 
this  word  spoken.  It  tells  of  the  very  highest 
honor  and  dignity,  of  the  closest  intimacy  with 
eternal  power  and  authority,  of  the  most  inward 
nearness  and  participation  in  the  administration 
of  divine  government.  But  it  tells  also  of  mighty 
activities  and  responsible  duties.  It  shows  us 
most  clearly  that  the  heaven  of  the  glorified  saints 
is  not  one  of  idleness.  They  have  something  more 
to  do  than  to  sing,  and  worship,  and  enjoy.  Indeed 
the  perfection  of  worship  is  service,  activity  for  God, 
the  doing  of  the  will  of  God.  And  this  is  to  be 
one  of  the  highest  characteristics  of  the  heaven  of 
the  saints.  They  are  to  do  work,  heavenly  w^ork, 
the  highest  kind  of  work,  the  execution  and  admin- 
istration of  the  will  and  bidding  of  the  throne  of 
eternity,  the  work  of  the  high  officials  who  stand 
nearest  to  the  throne,  and  through  whom  the 
throne  expresses  itself.     Like  "the  seven  princes 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.     22:1-5.  44^ 

of  Persia  and  Media  which  saw  the  king's  face,  and 
which  sat  first  in  ike  kingdom  "  (Esth.  1 :  14),  so  these 
''servants  shall  serve  him,  and  they  shall  see  his  face, 
and  the  name  of  him  shall  be  upon  their  foreheads." 

The  Jewish  high  priest,  when  fully  arrayed  as 
the  officer  and  agent  of  Jehovah,  in  addition  to  his 
mitre,  had  a  plate  of  burnished  gold  upon  his 
brow,  on  which  was  engraved  the  great  Name  of 
that  almighty  Being  for  whom  he  served.  These 
dwellers  in  the  New  Jerusalem  are  all  priests  then, 
as  well  as  kings,  and  so  they  have  the  tokens  of 
their  sublime  office  and  consecration  on  their  fore- 
heads. The  name  of  their  King  and  God  is  there, 
to  tell  of  their  dignity,  their  office,  and  the  tran- 
scendent authority  and  glory  of  him  for  whom 
they  officiate.  In  the  courts  of  kings,  the  most 
honored  servants  and  favorites  wear  badges  and 
marks  in  token  of  the  king's  conlidence,  ftivor, 
and  affection.  The  noble  knights  have  their  rib- 
bons; and  those  whom  the  king  delighteth  to 
honor  have  their  chains  of  gold  about  their  necks, 
their  rosettes,  their  indications  of  standing  with 
their  sovereign.  So  these  all  have  the  Name  of 
the  All-Ruling  Lamb  upon  their  foreheads,  show- 
ing exaltation,  honor,  and  blessedness  of  the  very 
highest  degree.  They  are  the  enthroned  princes 
of  the  eternal  realm,  the  servants  of  the  Supreme 
God,  the  very  organs  and  expressions  of  the  ever- 
lasting Throne. 

Again  it  is  said  that  "  night  shall  not  be  any 
more."  The  repetition  of  this  particular,  empha- 
sizes it  as  a  very  special  and  a  very  glorious  bless- 


442  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

ing.  The  light  of  God  and  the  Lamb  shall  be  so 
full,  glorious,  and  abiding,  that  night  no  longer 
can  exist  in  that  city.  Its  inhabitants  need  no 
shutting  off  of  day  to  give  them  sleep.  They  are 
independent  of  all  material  orbs  or  their  revolu- 
tions. Of  course,  this  statement  does  not  apply 
to  "the  nations"  on  the  earth.  The  succession 
of  day  and  night  existed  before  Adam  fell,  and 
he  needed  the  repose  of  night  even  in  his  inno- 
cence. He  lived  in  an  earthly  body,  and  that  body 
needed  sleep.  We  also  have  the  positive  state- 
ment that  he  did  sleep,  even  before  he  sinned. 
Likewise  those  who  then  live  in  the  flesh,  will 
need  sleep,  and  their  seasons  of  repose.  Hence, 
the  covenant  with  Noah  was,  that,  "  while  the 
earth  remaineth,  day  and  night  shall  not  cease." 
(Gen.  8  :  22.)  But  in  the  home  of  the  glorified 
saints  there  will  be  no  more  night.  Darkness  of 
all  orders,  physical,  mental,  and  moral,  shall  have 
no  place  there.  As  the  glory  of  the  Shekinah 
ever  glowed  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  so  shall  the 
Jehovah  brightness  ever  illuminate  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  and  all  its  inhabitants  shall  themselves 
be  light;  for  they  "shall  shine  as  the  brightness 
of  the  firmament,  and  as  the  stars  forever  and 
ever."  (Dan.  12:3.) 

"  And  they  shall  reign  to  the  ages  of  the  ages.''  Not 
for  the  thousand  years  only,  but  forever  shall  their 
glory  and  dominion  last.  This  tells  at  once  their 
eternal  dignity,  and  the  eternal  perpetuity  of  men 
in  the  flesh.  If  they  are  to  be  kings  forever,  they 
must  have  subjects  forever;   and  their  subjects, 


LECTURE    L.    CHAP.    22:1-5.  443 

whom  they  shepherdize,  over  whom  they  rule,  aud 
for  whom  they  hold  the  dominion,  are  everywhere 
desorihed  as  "  the  nations  " — "  all  people,  languages, 
and  nations  under  the  whole  heaven.'^  (Rev.  2 : 
26;  12:5;  22:1;  24:26;  Dan.  7 :  14,  27;  Matt. 
19  :  28,  29  ;  1  Cor.  6  :  2.)  Either,  then,  their  king- 
dom must  come  to  an  end  for  want  of  subjects,  or 
nations,  peoples,  and  men  on  the  earth  must  con- 
tinue in  the  flesh,  as  Adam  and  Eve  before  the 
fall.  But  these  glorified  ones  are  to  "reign  to  the 
ages  of  the  ages,"  and  their  *'  kingdom  is  an  ever- 
lasting kingdom;"  and  as  they  cannot  reign  with- 
out subjects,  so  nations  on  earth  must  last  coequally 
with  their  regency.  Both  their  office,  and  the 
activities  in  which  their  sublimest  happiness  is  lo- 
cated, must  fail  them,  if  the  nations  over  whom 
their  rule  is,  ever  cease  to  be.  They  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage;  for  they  are  as 
the  angels  of  God;  but  their  subjects  are  of  a  dif- 
ferent order,  and  their  dominion  and  glory  shall 
grow  forever,  by  the  ceaseless  augmentation  of 
the  number  of  their  subjects  throughout  unending 
generations. 

Such  is  the  final  picture  set  before  us  in  these 
wonderful  prophecies  and  foreshowings  of  the  pur- 
poses of  our  God.  Such  are  the  fore-intimations 
of  that  new  heavens  and  earth  wherein  eternal 
righteousness  dwells.  And  such  are  the  glimpses 
which  our  gracious  Saviour  has  given  us  of  the 
dignities  and  blessedness  to  which  we  are  called 
by  his  Gospel. 

See,  then,  my  friends,  how  very  high  our  calling 


444  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

is.  And  shall  we  not  value,  cherish,  and  improve 
it?  Shall  we  throw  away  our  chance  for  such 
an  eternal  home?  Shall  we  slight  the  offers  and 
opportunities  of  blessedness  like  this?  Let  for- 
tunes pass;  let  friendships  be  forfeited;  let  earthly 
comforts  go  unenjoyed ;  cast  honors,  titles,  crowns, 
empires  to  the  wolves  and  bats;  but  let  not  the 
privilege  go  by  of  becoming  an  immortal  king 
and  co-regent  with  the  Lamb  in  the  Golden  City 
of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Rise,  my  soul,  and  stretch  thy  wings, 

Thy  better  portion  trace  ; 
Rise  from  transitory  things 

Toward  heaven,  thy  native  place. 

Sun,  and  moon,  and  stars  decay, 
Time  shall  soon  this  earth  remove  j 

Rise,  my  soul,  and  haste  away 
To  seats  prepared  above  1 


LECTURE  FIFTY-FIRST. 

LAST  SECTION  OF  THE  BOOK — CERTAINTY  OF  THESE  REVELA- 
TIONS—THE REPEATED  BENEDICTION  UPON  THOSE  AVIIO 
TREASURE  THEM — EFFECT  OF  THEM  ON  THE  APOSTLE — THE 
DIRECTION  TO  HIM  WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  THEM — AN  ARGU- 
MENT FOR  THE  SAME — THE  CONDITION  ON  WHICH  THE 
BEATITUDES  OF  THIS  BOOK  ARE  TO  BE  ENJOYED — A  PAR- 
TICULAR   WASHING    OF    ROBES. 


Rev.  22  :  6-15.  (Revised  Text.)  And  he  said  to  me,  These  words 
[are]  faithful  and  true,  and  the  Lord  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  the 
prophets  sent  his  angel  to  show  to  his  servants  what  things  must  come 
to  pass  shortly. 

And  behold,  I  come  quickly  :  blessed  he  that  keepeth  the  words  of 
the  prophecy  of  this  book. 

And  I,  John,  [was]  hearing  and  seeing  these  things.  And  when 
I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down  to  worship  before  the  feet  of  the 
angel  who  showed  me  these  things.  And  he  saith  to  me,  See,  no ;  I 
am  fellow  servant  of  thee  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of  those 
who  keep  the  words  of  this  book  :  worship  God. 

And  he  saith  to  me.  Seal  not  up  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book;  the  time  is  near.  Let  the  unjust  one  do  injustice  more  and 
more,  and  the  filthy  [or  polluted]  one  defile  [or  do  poUiitioii]  more  and 
.more,  and  the  righteous  one  do  righteousness  more  and  more,  and  the 
holy  one  sanctify  more  and  more. 

Behold,  I  come  quickly,  and  my  reward  with  me,  to  give  to  each  as 
his  work  is,  I  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  First  and  Last,  the  Beginning 
and  the  End.  Blessed  they  that  wash  their  robes  that  they  may  [in 
that  they  shall]  have  the  power  over  the  tree  of  life,  and  enter  by  tne 
gates  into  the  city.  Excluded  [or  outside  are]  the  dogs,  and  the  sor- 
cerers, and  the  fornicators,  and  the  murderers,  and  the  idolaters,  and 
every  one  loving  or  making  a  lie  [or,  what  is  false]. 

(  446  } 


446  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

WE  come  now  to  the  last  section  of  this  won- 
derful Book — the  Epilogue — the  closing 
remarks.  The  Grand  Panorama  of  an  ending  and 
renewing  world  has  reached  the  point  where  every- 
thing enters  upon  the  eternal  state,  and  we  are 
now  to  take  leave  of  the  w^onderful  exhibit.  We 
have  seen  the  Church  in  its  universality  and  va- 
ried historic  continuity  from  the  days  of  the  Apos- 
tle down  to  the  time  when  Christ  shall  come  for 
his  people,  and  how  he  will  end  its  career  by 
taking  one  here  and  another  there,  and  leaving 
the  rest,  because  of  their  unreadiness  to  taste  the 
sorrows  of  the  great  Tribulation.  With  the  judg- 
ment thus  begun  at  the  house  of  God,  we  have 
seen  it  roll  along  through  the  breaking  of  seals, 
the  sounding  of  trumpets,  and  the  pouring  out  of 
bowls  of  wrath,  in  ever-varying  scenes  of  miracle 
and  wonder,  towards  saints  and  sinners,  the  living 
and  the  dead.  We  have  seen  the  Antichrist  com- 
ing up  from  his  abyss,  captivating  the  world,  run- 
ning his  course  of  unexampled  blasphemy,  and 
sinking  forever  in  his  deserved  perdition.  We 
have  seen  the  final  doings  of  Satan,  in  heaven  and 
earth,  his  arrest  and  imprisonment,  his  short  loos- 
ing, and  his  final  consignment,  with  all  his,  to  the 
lake  of  fire.  We  have  seen  the  thrones  of  the 
shepherdizers  of  the  nations,  the  breaking  down 
of  all  rebellion,  and  the  coming  forth  into  the 
living  world  of  the  eternal  principles  of  righteous- 
ness. We  have  seen  the  shaking  of  the  old  heav- 
ens and  earth,  and  the  same  passed  through  the 
throes  of  the  long-expected  Regeneration.     We 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-16.  4.47 

have  seen  the  crowned  princes  of  the  first  resur- 
rection wedded  to  the  All-Euling  Lamb,  and  led 
into  the  golden  city  of  their  hopes.  We  have 
seen  the  !N'ew  Jerusalem  come  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God;  Sin, Death,  Hades,  and  the  curse  swept 
into  Gehenna;  the  Tabernacle  of  God  taking  its 
place  among  men;  redemption  complete;  Paradise 
regained ;  and  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  Edenic 
peace  and  glory  setting  out  under  their  immortal 
kings  for  an  eternity  of  uninterrupted  blessedness. 
And  it  only  remains  now  to  give  a  few  closing 
particulars  with  reference  to  these  momentous 
Revelations,  that  men  may  attend  to  them  with 
that  reverence  and  faith  which  of  right  belongs  to 
them.  May  God  help  us  to  hear,  learn,  and  in- 
wardly digest  them  to  our  abiding  consolation  ! 

I.  The  first  thing  we  are  called  on  to  note  is, 
their  absolute  truth  and  certainty.  There  is  nothing 
in  which  the  diflference  of  the  Scriptures  from  all 
other  teachings  is  more  manifest  than  in  the  posi- 
tiveness  and  authority  with  which  they  deliver 
themselves  on  all  subjects,  even  where  reason  can 
tell  us  nothing,  and  where  the  presentations  are 
so  marvellous  as  to  stagger  belief.  When  the 
Saviour  was  on  earth,  he  spake  with  such  clear- 
ness and  simplicity,  and  with  such  knowing  maj- 
esty and  commanding  mastery  of  all  wisdom  that 
men  who  heard  him  were  amazed,  forgot  all  other 
authorities,  and  hasted  away  in  awe, saying,  ''Never 
man  spake  like  this  man.''  And  so  it  is  in  all  the 
word  of  inspiration.  Even  -where  angels  would 
scarce  dare  to  tread,  it  enters  with  perfect  free- 
voL,  III.  86 


448  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

dom,  as  upon  its  own  home  domain,  and  declares 
itself  with  all  that  assured  certainty  which  belongs 
only  to  Omniscience.  Even  with  regard  to  all  the 
astounding  and  seemingly  impossible  wonders  of 
this  Book,  the  absolute  truth  of  every  jot  and  tit- 
tle is  guaranteed  with  the  abounding  fulness  of 
the  completest  knov^ledge  of  everything  involved. 
In  case  of  some  of  the  most  wonderful  of  these 
presentations,  the  word  to  John  w^as,  "  Write,  be- 
cause these  words  are  faithful  and  trueJ^  And  so 
here,  with  regard  to  all  the  contents  of  the  Book, 
it  was  said  to  the  Seer,  "  These  words  [are']  faithful 
and  truey 

Thrice  is  it  repeated,  that  these  presentations 
are  faithful  and  true  (19:9;  21:5;  22:6);  and 
twace  is  it  affirmed  that  these  showings  are  all 
from  God.  In  the  opening  of  the  Book  it  is 
said,  that  he  "sent  his  angel  to  his  servant 
John  "  for  the  purpose  of  making  these  revelations, 
and  here  at  the  conclusion,  we  have  it  repeated, 
that  "  the  Lord  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  the  prophets 
sent  his  angel  to  show  to  his  servants  what  things 
MUST  come  to  2mss.''  Nay  more,  Christ  himself 
adds  special  personal  testimony  to  the  fact:  "I, 
Jesus,  sent  my  angel  to  testify  to  you  these  things.''' 
Thus  the  very  God  of  all  inspiration,  and  of  all 
inspired  men,  reiterates  and  affirms  the  highest 
authority  for  all  that  is  herein  written. 

Either,  then,  this  Book  is  nothing  but  a  base 
and  blasphemous  forgery,  unworthy  of  the  slightest 
respect  of  men,  and  specially  unworthy  of  a  place 
in  the  Sacred  Canon;  or  it  is  one  of  the  most 


LECTURE    LI.     CHAP.    22:6-15.  449 

directly  inspired  and  authoritative  writings  ever 
given.  But  a  forgery  it  cannot  be.  All  the  Churches 
named  in  its  first  chapters,  from  the  earliest  pe- 
riods  succeeding  the  time  of  its  writing,  with  one 
accord,  accepted  and  honored  it  as  from  their  be- 
loved Apostolic  Father.     Papias,  Bishop  of  Hie- 
ropolis,  a  disciple  of  St.  John,  a  colleague  of  the 
Seven  Angels  of  these  Churches,  and  who  gave 
much  attention  to  the  collection  of  all  the  memo- 
rable sayings  and  works  of  the  Apostles,  accepted 
and  honored  this  Book  as  the  genuine  production 
of  this  venerable  Apostle.     Nor  is  there  another 
Book  in  the  New  Testament  whose  genuineness 
and  inspiration  were  more  clearly  and   strongly 
attested  on  its  first  appearance,  and  for  the  three 
half  centuries  next  following.     Augustine  and  the 
Latin  Council  unquestionably  had  good  and  sufii- 
cient  reason  for  classing  it  with  the  most  sacred 
apostolic  records,  and  the  Church  in  general^  for 
regarding  it  as  a  Book  of  prophecy  "  from  Christ's 
own  divine,  omniscient,  and  eternal  Spirit."*   And 
if  it  really  is  the  Lord  Jesus  who  speaks  to  us  in 
this  Book,  there  is  nothing  in  all  the  Canon  of 
Scripture  which  he  more  pointedly  attests,  more 
solemnly  guards,  or  more  urgently  presses  upon 
the  study  and  devout  regard  of  all  who  would  be 
his  disciples.     People  may  account  us  crazy  for 
o-iving  so  much  attention  to  it,  and  laugh  at  our 
credulity  for  daring  to  believe  that  it  means  what 
it   says;    but   better  be  accounted  possessed,  as 

*  See  Vol.  I,  pp.  26-31. 


450  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

Christ  himself  was  considered,  and  be  pronounced 
beside  ourselves  and  mad,  after  the  manner  of 
Paul,  than  to  take  our  lot  with  Pharisees,  and 
Festuses,  and  Agrippas,  and  Galios.  If  we  err  in 
this,  we  err  with  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
saints,  with  the  noble  army  of  the  martyrs,  in  the 
society  of  many  great  and  good  and  wise  in  many 
ages  and  nations.  And  if  it  should  finally  turn 
out  that  we  have  been  beguiling  ourselves  with 
dreams,  they  still  give  us  the  most  consistent  phi- 
losophy of  Providence,  and  the  most  comforting 
solutions  of  life's  mysteries,  whilst  our  pretension- 
less  submission  to  what  seems  most  surely  to  be 
our  Creator's  word  and  will  may  serve  us  best 
when  we  come  to  answer  at  his  judgment-seat. 
We  believe  that  it  is  God  who  tells  us,  "  these  words 
are  faithful  and  true;^'  therefore  we  so  take  them, 
and  build  our  faith  upon  them,  and  testify  them 
to  all  the  world. 

II.  A  second  particular  to  be  noted  in  this  Epi- 
logue is  the  repetition  of  the  benediction  upon 
those  who  treasure  what  is  written  in  this  Book. 
In  the  opening  verses  the  inspired  writer  said : 
"  Blessed  he  who  readeth,  and  those  who  hear  the 
words  of  the  prophecy,  and  observe  the  things 
which  are  written  in  it."  But  here  the  Saviour 
himself,  even  he  whose  n earing  Apocalypse  these 
records  were  given  to  describe,  says,  in  a  voice 
uttered  from  his  glorious  throne  in  heaven, 
"  Blessed  he  that  keepeth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of 
this  Book,^^     All  this  is  additional  to  the  seven 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  45I 

times  repeated  admonition,  '-He  that  hath  an  ear^ 
let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches. ^^ 
Is  there  another  Book  in  the  holy  Canon  so  in- 
tense, so  emphatic,  so  constant,  so  full  from  end 
to  end,  in  its  expressions  of  the  good  to  be  gained 
and  the  ill  to  be  avoided  by  the  hearing  and  learn- 
ing of  its  own  particular  presentations  ?  It  is  pre- 
cisely as  if  the  Saviour  knew  and  foresaw,  as  he 
certainly  did,  what  neglect,  prejudice,  and  mis- 
treatment this  Book  would  encounter  in  the  later 
ages  of  the  Church,  and  how  it  and  the  students 
of  it,  and  especially  the  believers  in  its  wonderful 
descriptions,  would  be  ridiculed,  avoided,  and  put 
aside,  as  not  in  the  line  of  proper  and  wholesome 
edification.  And  how  will  some  of  these  pious 
scorners,  whom  Christ  has  set  and  ordained  to  feed 
his  sheep  and  give  them  meat  in  due  season,  feel 
and  fare,  when  from  the  judgment-seat  he  shall 
say :  *'  Sirs,  I  gave  you  the  complete  chart  of  my 
promised  Apocalypse ;  I  caused  it  to  be  made  as 
plain  as  words  and  visions  can  make  anything  of 
the  sort;  I  told  you  over  and  over  of  the  mo- 
mentous importance  of  studying,  treasuring,  and 
making  known  to  the  Churches  what  I  thus  sent 
my  angel  and  my  beloved  disciple  to  show  you ; 
and  yet  you  have  held  it  to  be  a  crazy  Book,  one 
which  either  finds  or  leaves  crazy  those  who  study 
it,  and  have  not  believed  my  word,  nor  taught  it 
to  my  people,  nor  allowed  it  to  speak  in  the  ap- 
pointed Lectionaries,  and  have  only  sought  to  ex- 
plain away  its  momentous  import  into  a  little  dim 
foreshowing  of  a  few  ages  of  ordinary  earthly  his- 


452  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

tory !  Was  this  the  way  for  good  servants  of  their 
Lord  to  act?  Was  this  being  faithful  stewards  of 
the  mysteries  of  God  ?  Was  this  the  way  to  treat 
what  I  have  been  at  such  pains  to  give,  and  pointed 
you  to  with  so  much  solemnity,  and  promised  to 
reward  your  study  of  it  with  such  special  benedic- 
tions?" Alas,  alas,  what  answer  will  they  make  ? 
Will  they  say  that  it  was  too  difficult  a  Book  for 
them  to  understand?  This  w^ould  only  be  adding 
insult  to  their  unfaithfulness.  Dare  we  suppose 
that  the  merciful  Jesus  would  hang  his  benedic- 
tions so  high  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  those 
to  whom  they  are  so  graciously  proposed  ?  Would 
he  mock  us  by  suspending  his  offered  blessings 
on  terms  beyond  our  power?  Yet  this  is  the 
charge  men  bring  against  their  Redeemer  when 
they  think  to  plead  the  incomprehensibility  of  this 
Book  for  their  neglect  and  practical  rejection  of 
it.  The  very  propounding  of  these  blessings  and 
rewards  is  God's  own  seal  to  the  possibility  of 
understanding  this  Book  equally  with  any  other 
part  of  Scripture.  Would  he,  the  God  of  truth, 
lie  to  us?  Would  he,  the  God  of  mercy,  mock 
us  ?  Would  he  who  gave  his  life  for  us,  and  ever 
lives  and  ministers  in  heaven  and  earth  for  our 
enlightenment  and  salvation,  give  us  a  Book  to 
tell  UB  of  the  outcome  of  all  his  gracious  opera- 
tions, command  us  to  note  its  words,  to  believe 
and  treasure  its  contents,  and  promise  us  a  special 
blessedness  in  so  doing,  if  what  he  has  thus  put 
into  our  hands  is  not  at  all  within  the  limits  of 
our  comprehension  and  successful  mastery  ?    Does 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  453 

not  everything  that  we  know  of  the  dear  God  above 
us  rise  up  to  condemn  all  such  thoughts  as  slan- 
derous of  heaven,  and  blasphemy  against  our  pre- 
cious Saviour's  goodness?  Therefore  these  very 
benedictions  pronounce  against  the  common  no- 
tion that  this  Book  is  too  difficult  for  ordinary 
Christians,  and  rebuke  all  who  despise  and  avoid 
it.  If  it  is  anything,  these  proffered  blessings  are 
more  than  a  divine  justification  for  all  the  time 
and  pains  which  we  have  been  bestowing  upon  it, 
and  for  accepting,  believing,  holding,  and  testify- 
ing as  the  very  truth  of  God  all  that  we  have  found 
herein  written.  Let  men  estimate  us  and  our 
work  as  they  please,  we  have  here  the  unmistak- 
able authority  of  heaven  for  it,  that  this  Apoca- 
lypse is  capable  of  being  understood ;  that  its  pre- 
sentations are  among  the  most  momentous  in  all 
the  Word  of  God ;  and  that  the  highest  blessed- 
ness of  believers  is  wrapped  up  with  the  learning 
and  keeping  of  what  is  pictured  to  us  in  it.  And 
if  Christians  would  rise  to  the  true  comfort  of  their 
faith, — if  they  would  possess  themselves  of  a  right 
philosophy  of  God's  purposes  and  providence, — if 
they  would  be  guarded  against  the  greatest  dan- 
gers and  most  subtle  deceptions  of  the  Old  Ser- 
pent,— if  they  would  really  know  what  Redemption 
means,  and  what  the  height  and  glory  of  their  call- 
ing is, — let  them  not  despise  or  neglect  this  crown- 
ing Book  of  the  ]N"ew  Testament,  but  study  its 
pages,  take  its  statements  as  they  read,  get  its  stu- 
pendous visions  into  their  understandings,  treasure 
its  words  in  their  hearts,  and  believe  and  know 


454  TH^    APOCALYPSE. 

that  it  is  compreheosible  for  all  who  are  really 
willing  to  be  instructed  in  these  mighty  things. 
If  we  wait  till  they  are  fulfilled,  it  will  then  be  too 
late  to  get  the  blessing  which  the  reading,  hear- 
ing, and  keeping  of  what  is  said  concerning  them 
is  to  bestow.  It  is  in  our  understanding  of  them 
before  they  come  to  pass  that  the  blessedness  lies; 
for  when  once  Christ  comes  in  the  scenes  of  his 
Apocalypse,  the  time  to  begin  to  put  ourselves  in 
readiness  for  it  will  be  past.  We  must  understand 
beforehand,  as  this  record  was  meant  to  advise  us 
beforehand,  or  it  will  be  useless  to  think  of  getting 
ourselves  in  position  when  once  these  momentous 
scenes  become  accomplished  realities.  By  all  that 
is  sacred,  therefore,  let  us  beware  how  we  treat 
this  Book,  and  the  showings  which  it  contains, 
remembering  this  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  spoken 
to  us  from  heaven ;  "  Blessed  he  that  keepeth  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book  J  ^"^ 

III.  Another  particular  to  be  noticed  is,  the 
effect  which  these  showings  had  upon  the  Apostle 

*  Old  James  Eobertson,  in  issuing  his  book  on  the  Eevelation 
in  1730,  made  this  remark:  "Some  are  not  ashamed  directly 
to  flout  at,  and  spit  contempt  upon  these  that  meddle  with  the 
exposition  of  this  Prophecy;  which  is  an  indirect  battering  of 
a  great  part  of  God's  word.  Thus  Dr.  South,  in  one  of  his  ser- 
mons, affirms,  that  none  but  a  madman  will  meddle  with  the 
Eevelation ;  or,  if  he  has  wits  at  the  beginning,  before  he  has 
done  they  will  be  cracked.  And  Davies,  a  Welsh  bombastic 
barrister,  has  the  impudence  to  insult  a  learned  and  reverend 
prelate,  yet  alive,  because  he  consumed  two  full  years  and  more 
on  this  Prophecy."  But  we  can  afford  to  let  men  sneer  when 
we  have  the  sure  benediction  of  God. 


LECTURE    LI.     CHAP.    22:6-15.  455 

at  the  time.  So  wonderful  were  the  revelations, 
and  so  wonderful  was  the  knowledge  and  under- 
standing of  the  angel  which  communicated  these 
things,  that  John  was  filled  with  the  profoundest 
adoration.  Twice  he  fell  down  before  the  feet  of 
the  angel  to  worship  him.  He  meant  no  idolatry ; 
but  so  wonderful  in  wisdom  and  intelligence  was 
his  heavenly  guide,  and  so  transcendent  were  the 
thinsrs  shown,  that  he  could  not  but  think  that  it 
was  God  himself.  The  presentations  all  along 
were  such  as  to  make  it  hard  to  distinguish  whether 
it  was  God  himself  speaking,  or  whether  it  was 
through  a  created  messenger  that  he  spoke.  And 
in  this  instance  particularly,  it  certainly  was  the 
Lord  Jesus  whom  he  heard  say,  "  Behold  I  come 
quickly;''  and  not  distinguishing  between  him 
who  spoke,  and  the  messenger  through  whom 
he  spoke,  John  "  fell  down  before  the  feet  of  the 
angel."  This  clearly  shows  that  the  holy  Apostles 
held  Christ  to  be  a  worshipful  being,  and  that  he 
was  none  other  than  true  God  as  well  as  true  man. 
John  knew  that  it  was  and  must  be  Christ  who 
spoke,  and  his  instant  adoration  was  meant  for 
Christ,  therefore  he  held  Christ  to  be  adorable 
God.  The  only  mistake  was  that  he  did  not  at 
the  moment  perceive  that  it  was  a  created  angel 
speaking  for  Christ,  and  not  Christ  himself  in 
the  form  of  an  angel.  Even  the  best  and  holiest 
of  men  may  make  mistakes  from  their  human  im- 
pulses, as  Moses  when  he  broke  the  tables  of  the 
Law,  and  Peter  when  he  avoided  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians at  Antioch.  But  innocent  mistakes,  and  those 


456  TH^    APOCALYPSE. 

which  result  from  the  truest  and  devoutest  inten- 
tions, may  be  very  injurious,  and  need  to  be 
promptly  corrected.  There  was  danger  here  of  a 
double  sin,  one  on  the  part  of  John  in  giving  wor- 
ship to  the  angel  instead  of  Christ,  and  one  on  the 
part  of  the  angel  in  accepting  worship  which  be- 
longs only  to  Deity.  But  John  was  in  doubt,  which 
the  angel  had  not,  and  therefore  it  belonged  to  the 
angel  in  truth  and  fidelit}^  to  John,  as  well  as  to 
God  and  himself,  to  correct  John's  mistake  on  the 
spot.  The  Devil  solicits  adoration,  but  holy  angels 
repel  it  as  a  detraction  from  Jehovah.  Hence, 
when  John  fell  down  to  worship  before  this  holy 
angel's  feet,  promptly  came  the  word,  "  I'ake  heed, 
no  ;  I  am  fellow-servant  of  thee  and  of  thy  brethren 
the  prophets,  and  of  those  who  keep  the  words  of  this 
Book:  worship  God.''^  The  misapprehension  b'eing 
dispelled,  the  Apostle  of  course  desisted.  The  in- 
cident shows  that  no  saint  or  angel  worship  can 
have  the  approval  of  heaven.  If  it  was  wrong  to 
worship  this  glorious  heavenly  messenger,  in  awd 
through  whom  came  forth  the  very  voice  of  Jesus, 
how  can  it  be  right  to  worship  and  pray  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  to  whom  is  assigned  no  such  dignity 
or  office?  The  impulse  and  intention  may  be  de- 
vout and  good;  but  it  is  a  great  mistake,  and  we 
take  the  side  of  heaven  and  holy  angels  when  we 
say  to  those  who  do  it:  '^See,  no,  no;  you  do 
greatly  err;  you  are  taking  Christ's  honor  from 
him  and  bestowing  it  upon  his  human  mother  or 
friends;  worship  God,  for  it  is  written,  *  Him  only 
shalt  thou  serve.' '' 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  457 

But  whilst  this  incident  brings  out  the  fact  that 
the  best  of  men  may  mistake,  even  out  of  the  ho-, 
iiest  motives,  it  also  brings  out  the  more  important 
facts,  that  John  fully  believed  all  these  revelations, 
that  he  was  most  profoundly  convinced  that  they 
were  from  God,  that  angels  also  treasure  them  as 
the  great  divine  lights  touching  what  is  to  be,  and 
that  John  is  recognized  in  heaven  as  a  genuine 
prophet.     The  angel  calls  him  a  fellow-servant 
with  himself,  the  same  as  the  whole  brotherhood 
of  sacred  prophets.     Mistaken  as  he  was  for  the 
moment  in  not  distinguishing  his  heavenly  guide 
from  his  Lord,  he  yet  was  duly  illuminated  as  a 
prophet,  and  still  had  the  office  and  inspiration  of 
God  for  the  understanding  of  these  mysteries,  and 
the  making  of  them  known  to  the  Churches.    An- 
gels have  often  been  commissioned  to  disclose  to 
men  important  sacred  truths.     It  was  an  angel 
who  was  thus  employed  in  acquainting  Ezekiel 
and  Daniel  with  many  of  the  most  important  fea- 
tures of  their  wonderful  prophecies;  and  so  it  was 
in  the  giving  of  these  particulars  of  the  Apocalypse 
to  John.     In  this  respect  angels  are  prophets  too, 
and  prophetically  minister  to  the  heirs  of  salva- 
tion.    Not  only  as  servants  of  God  are  they  the 
fellow-servants  of  the  prophets;  but  they  also  be- 
come fellow-prophets  when  engaged  in  communi- 
cating a  knowledge  of  the  divine  mind  and  pur- 
poses to  men.     And  in  this  fellowship  of  servants 
of  the  same  Lord,  and  of  service  in  making  known 
divine  things,  John  is  here  acknowledged  as  a  co- 
partner with  the  angel  himself.     What  he  writes 


458  THE    APOCALYPSB. 

U8,  therefore,  is  true  prophecy,  and  demands  to  be 
received  as  such. 

IV.  A  further  particular  here  to  be  noted  is 
the  direction  to  John  what  to  do  with  these  reve- 
lations. Whether  from  Christ  direct,  or  through 
the  angel  whom  Christ  sent  to  show  him  these 
things,  command  was  given  him:  '•''Seal  not  up  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book.''  Some  take 
this  as  antithetical  to  the  command  given  Daniel 
with  regard  to  his  prophecies.  (Dan.  8  :  26;  12  : 
4,  9.)  But  that  is  plainly  a  mistake.  There  is  no 
reference  whatever  to  Daniel.  Besides,  the  direc- 
tion given  to  Daniel  was  the  very  reverse  of  what 
is  thus  assumed.*  The  true  antithesis  is  the  com- 
mand with  regard  to  what  the  seven  thunders  ut- 
tered, as  referred  to  in  chapter  10  :  4.  From  the 
beginning  of  these  marvellous  experiences  John 
was  directed  to  write  what  he  saw  and  heard,  and 
to  make  the  same  known  to  the  Churches.  So, 
"  when  the  seven  thunders  spoke,"  he  "  was  about 
to  write  ;^'  but  a  voice  from  heaven  said,  '^  Seal  up 
those  things  which  the  seven  thunders  spoke,  and  write 
them  7ioi.^'  The  sealing  enjoined  stands  over  against 
writing  and  making  known,  and  hence  is  quite  a 
different  sealing  from  that  which  was  commanded 
Daniel.  John  was  to  bury  up  the  thing  in  his  own 
breast,  not  to  write  it,  not  to  make  it  known  at  all. 
But  what  he  was  not  to  do  respecting  the  utterances 
of  the  seven  thunders,  he  was  to  do  with  reference 

*  See  my  Voices  from  Babylon^  pp.  304-306. 


LECTURJ:    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  459 

to  all  other  "  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book." 
He  was  not  to  seal  them  up;  that  is,  not  to  conceal 
them,  but  to  record  them,  to  make  them  known, 
to  publish  them  to  the  Churches. 

Not  from  any  self-will  on  his  part,  therefore, 
have  these  Apocalyptic  records  been  put  before 
us;  but  by  direct  command  of  our  God  and  Sav- 
iour. They  constitute  his  last  and  crowning 
legacy  to  his  Church  and  people.  They  are  writ- 
ten by  his  appointment  and  command.  They  are 
put  into  our  hands  by  the  specific  direction  of 
eternal  power  and  Godhead.  They  are  therefore 
God's  word  to  us.  And  if  he  commanded  the 
writing  of  them,  I  cannot  see  how  men  are  to  ex- 
cuse themselves  from  the  reading  and  study  of 
them;  or  how  any  Christian  can  think  lightly  of 
them,  or  put  them  from  him  as  of  no  practical 
worth,  and  yet  retain  his  holy  faithfulness  to  the 
plain  will  and  inculcations  of  our  blessed  Lord  and 
Judge.  O,  my  friends,  let  us  beware  how  we  neg- 
lect or  despise  a  Book  upon  which  God  Almighty 
has  laid  so  much  stress,  urgency,  and  importance. 
If  John  had  sealed  it  up,  or  failed  to  lay  it  before 
us  as  it  is,  he  wobld  have  forfeited  his  place  and 
standing  as  an  apostle  of  Christ;  how,  then,  can 
we  think  our  duty  discharged,  or  the  provisions 
for  our  highest  blessedness  duly  accepted  and 
used,  if  we  pass  it  by  as  a  dead  letter,  or  make  it 
to  us  as  if  it  had  never  been? 

V.  Again,  there  is  added  here  a  very  singular 
argument.     It  is  not  easy  to  give  the  exact  literal 


460  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

sense  of  the  peculiarly  constructed  phraseology; 
but  taking  the  whole  connection  and  bearing  of  the 
passage,  it  may  perhaps  be  best  rendered,  "  Let 
the  unjust  one  do  injustice  more  and  more^  and  the  filthy 
one  defile  more  and  more,  and  the  righteous  one  do 
righteousness  more  and  more,  and  the  holy  one  sanctify 
7nore  and  more."  Many  take  the  statement  as  re- 
ferring to  the  eternal  fixedness  of  character,  both 
for  the  bad  and  good,  when  once  these  Apoca- 
lyptic scenes  have  been  fulfilled.  It  is  indeed  a 
great  truth,  that  a  time  comes  to  every  one  when 
the  seal  of  permanence  is  set  upon  the  spiritual 
condition,  rendering  the  unjust  one  unjust  forever, 
and  the  righteous  one  righteous  forever.  The 
same  is  also  involved  in  this  statement.  But  it  is 
hardly  to  be  taken  as  the  main  thought.  The 
meanins:  has  immediate  reference  to  the  non-seal- 
ing,  that  is,  the  writing  and  publication  of  "  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book,"  and  the  near- 
ness of  the  time  of  their  fulfilment.  The  direct 
bearing  of  the  statement  is  that  of  an  argument 
for  the  writing  and  publishing  of  these  revelations, 
and  the  holding  of  them  up  to  the  view^  of  all  men, 
over  against  the  non-effect  or  141  effect  they  may 
have  upon  the  wdcked  and  unbelieving,  or  upon 
the  Antichrist  and  his  adherents,  who  is  emphati- 
cally the  unjust  and  unclean  one.  Though  "  wicked 
men  and  seducers  shall  wax  v^orse  and  worse," 
and  even  wrest  what  is  herein  predicted  of  them 
as  if  it  were  a  license  for  their  wickedness  or  a 
fixing  of  it  by  an  irresistible  necessity,  and  so  are 
only  the  more  encouraged  and  urged  on  in  their 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  461 

injustice  and   abominations;    still,  this  is  not  to 
prevent  the  freest  and  fullest  proclamation  of  the 
whole  truth.     Let  the  unjust  one  be  the  more  con- 
firmed in  his  unbelief  and  wickedness;— let  the 
filthy  one  go  on  in  his  idolatries  and  moral  defile- 
ment with  all  the  greater  hardihood  and  blas- 
phemy ;— that  is  not  to  restrain  the  making  known 
of  what  shall  come  to  pass.     If  it  accelerates  the 
antichristian  development,  and  the  wicked  are  only 
the  more  indurated  in  their  wickedness,  let  it  so 
be.     Though  the  sun  breed  pestilence  and  death 
in  the  morasses,  and  only  hasten  putrefaction  in 
what  is  lifeless  and  rotten,  it  must  not  therefore 
be  blotted  from  the  heavens,  or  hindered  from  shin- 
ing into  our  world.     There  is  another  side  to  the 
question.     If  it  is  an  ill  thing  to  what  is  ill,  the  life 
of  what  is  living  requires  it.     Believers  must  be 
forewarned  and  forearmed,  or  they  too  will  be  de- 
ceived and  perish.     And  if  the  wicked  are  made 
the  wickeder,  the  righteous  and  holy  will  be  the 
holier,   and  without  it  cannot  be  defended  and 
kept  as  they  need  to  be.     Therefore,  let  not  this 
holy  book  be  sealed  up,  nor  its  grand  prophecies 
shut  off  from  the  fullest  record  and  the  most  un- 
reserved proclamation.     There  is  always  a  twofold 
effect  from  the  preaching  of  the  divine  word.     It 
is  quick  and  powerful,  and  never  leaves  men  where 
it  finds  them.     It  either  makes  them  better,  or  it 
makes  them  worse.     If  it  does  not  absolve,  it  the 
more  condemns.     If  it  does  not  soften  to  peni- 
tence, it  hardens  in  iniquity.     If  it  is  not  a  savor 
of  life  unto  life,  it  is  a  savor  of  death  unto  death. 


462 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


And,  unfortunately  for  the  great  masses  of  its 
hearers,  it  is  an  instrument  of  damnation  rather 
than  of  salvation.  Particularly  is  this  true  with 
regard  to  the  foreshowings  of  prophecy  as  set  forth 
in  this  Book.  For  the  most  gracious  purposes 
have  these  revelations  been  given.  They  come  to 
us  freighted  with  spiritual  blessing,  light,  and 
confirmation.  They  are  the  very  things,  in  God's 
estimate,  for  the  setting  of  believers  right  in  their 
conceptions,  lives,  hopes,  and  aims,  and  for  shield- 
ing them  against  perils  from  which  it  is  next  thing 
to  impossible  otherwise  to  escape.  And  yet  there 
is  the  strangest  unwillingness  to  believe  or  receive 
them  as  they  stand  written.  Even  good  men  are 
ofiended  at  them,  denounce  them,  ridicule  them, 
explain  them  away,  do  anything  with  them  but 
admit  them  into  their  belief  and  expectations  of 
the  future.  I  doubt  not,  that  this  Apocalypse  has 
been  and  will  be  the  rock  on  which  many  a  one's 
salvation  is  wrecked  by  reason  of  the  offence  taken 
at  its  presentations.  To  the  savants  and  scientists 
of  this  world,  there  is  no  part  of  all  the  Scriptures 
which  seems  so  absurd  and  impossible.  They  can 
get  on  with  everything  else  a  thousandfold  better 
than  with  the  outlines  of  the  future  which  this 
Book  gives.  To  their  philosophy  it  is  the  very 
consummation  of  nonsense.  And  if  this  is  the 
scheme  and  outcome  of  the  Gospel  system,  they 
will  have  none  of  it.  They  know  better.  They 
have  got  beyond  all  such  puerilities.  They  would 
not  swallow  such  things  for  their  lives,  and  scorn 
to  take  for  divine  what  embraces  them  as  the  con- 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22:6-15.  4^3 

summation  of  this  world.  Their  sneers,  contempt, 
and  blasphemy  nowhere  rise  to  such  a  pitch  as 
when  they  are  asked  to  accept  and  believe  that 
this  Book  is  of  God,  and  means  what  it  says.  And 
all  the  more  so  shall  the  temper  be  as  the  sensual 
and  devilish  wisdom  matures,  develops,  and  ex- 
hibits its  proud  knowledge  and  mastery  of  the 
material  elements.  But  the  truth  of  God  must  be 
spoken  nevertheless.  Let  the  unjust  one  do  in- 
justice all  the  more;  let  the  filthy  one  defile  him- 
self all  the  more;  let  the  ofience,  and  the  stum- 
bling, and  the  skepticism,  and  the  scorning,  and 
the  blasphemy,  and  the  condemnation  be  aggra- 
vated by  it  as  they  may,  "  the  w^ords  of  the  pro- 
phecy of  this  Book"  must  not  be  sealed  up.  There 
are  some  elect  ones  whom  it  will  benefit,  enlighten, 
and  save  from  the  toils  of  the  Old  Deceiver.  There 
are  righteous  ones  whom  it  will  establish  and  se- 
cure in  their  righteousness.  And  there  are  some 
consecrated  ones  whom  it  will  the  more  set  apart 
for  God  and  the  more  intensify  in  their  devotion 
and  their  ready-making  to  join  their  Lord  and 
Master  in  the  Golden  City  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
Though  the  wicked  shall  do  wickedly,  and  none 
of  the  wicked  shall  understand,  yet  the  wise  shall 
understand,  and  for  them  the  Book  is  necessary. 

VI.  One  particular  more  in  this  Epilogue  is  all 
that  I  can  notice  to-night.  It  is  a  particular  which 
the  oldest  and  best  manuscripts  and  all  the  most 
competent  critics  agree  in  giving  in  a  different 
form  from  that  in  which  it  stands  in  our  English 
VOL.  Ill,  87 


464  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

Bibles.  It  relates  to  the  conditions  and  qualifica- 
tions upon  which  the  beatitudes  of  this  Book  are 
suspended.  Our  English  version  reads,  "Blessed 
are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that  they  may 
have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in 
through  the  gates  into  the  city."  The  now  better- 
established  reading,  to  Vv'hich  all  consent,  literally 
rendered,  is :  "  Blessed  they  thai  wash  their  robes,  that 
they  may  \in  thai  day  shair]  have  the  'power  over  the 
tree  of  life,  and  enter  by  the  gates  into  the  city.^^^  The 
meaning  is  not  essentially  different;  but  the  true 
reading  cuts  out  the  possibility  of  a  legalistic  inter- 
pretation, gives  to  the  passage  its  genuine  evan- 
gelic flavor,  and  conforms  its  imagery  to  what 
was  previously  said  in  this  Book  with  reference 
to  what  brought  the  great  multitude  out  of  the 
great  tribulation.  (Chap.  7 :  14.) 

Washing,  or  cleansing,  is  the  great  qualification 
for  heaven, — "  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word  " 
(Eph.  5  :  26),—'^  the  washing  of  regeneration  "  (Tit. 
3  :  5), — cleansing  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  (I 
John  1 :  7).  There  is  no  doing  or  keeping  of  com- 
mandments that  can  save  us  without  this.  (Eph.  2 : 
8,  9.)  Hence  Paul  speaks  of  the  Corinthian  Chris- 
tians as  "  washed,  sanctified,  justified  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God" 
(1  Cor.  6:11);  and  John  ascribes  glory  and  do- 
minion  to   the   Lord   Jesus   for   having   washed 

*  See  the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  Codex  Alexandrinus,  the  Vul- 
gate, the  Ethiopic,  and  some  Armenian  copies,  Lachraann, 
Buttmann,  Evvald,  Thiele,  Tregelies,  Alford,  Wordsworth,  and 
all  the  great  authorities. 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.   22  :  6  - 15.  455 

[freed]  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood  (Rev. 
1:5);  and  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
speaks  of  our  drawing  near  to  the  holiest  of  all, 
"  having  our  hearts  sprinkled  from  an  evil  con- 
science, and  our  bodies  washed  with  pure  water" 
as  the  high  priest  of  old  (Heb.  10  ;  22).  JSTor  can 
we  ever  hope  to  enter  the  Holy  City,  or  eat  of  its 
fruits,  or  taste  of  its  blessedness,  without  this  spir- 
itual washing  from  all  the  filthinesses  of  the  flesh 
and  of  the  spirit.  "  The  dogs,  or  unclean  ones, 
and  the  sorcerers,  and  the  fornicators,  and  the 
murderers,  and  the  idolaters,  and  every  one  loving 
and  making  a  lie  [or  what  is  false],"  are  all  ex- 
cluded from  that  pure  and  holy  habitation.  And 
w^hoever  hath  good  hope  of  seeing  and  being  with 
Christ  in  heaven,  "purifieth  himself  even  as  he  is 
pure."  (1  John  3  :  2,  3.) 

But  the  washing  of  which  the  text  speaks,  whilst 
presupposing  and  including  this  general  cleansing, 
is  something  more  special.  It  is  a  washing  o^ gar- 
ments or  robes.  It  has  reference  to  habit  in  par- 
ticular, in  addition  to  the  nature  in  general.  One's 
clothes  are  reckoned  with  himself.  They  are  an 
outside  part  of  him,  but  that  which  marks  the 
form,  order,  or  habit  in  which  he  bears  hitnself. 
There  is  something  moral  and  spiritual  in  clothes. 
They  express  much  of  the  inward  taste  and  char- 
acter. They  come  between  us  and  society,  to  a 
large  extent  represent  us  to  society,  and  react 
again  on  our  inner  consciousness,  moral  sense,  and 
state  of  mind  and  heart.  We  cannot  always  judge 
one  from  the  clothes  he  wears,  but  we  cannot  help 


466  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  effect  which  clothes  have  upon  our  judgment 
of  people.  They  tell  a  story  of  the  wearers  of 
them.  And  if  any  one  is  habitually  filthy,  slov- 
enly, unclean,  and  untidy  in  his  garments,  it  is  a 
blur  upon  him,  a  repugnance,  a  thing  to  make  his 
presence  unwelcome  and  undesirable  in  respectable 
company.  When  it  comes  to  agreeable  social  rec- 
ognition and  intercourse,  clean  clothes  are  asso- 
ciated with  a  right  heart,  a  right  mind,  and  a  right 
feeling.  Anything  short  of  this  is  an  offence  and 
a  disqualification.  Hence  the  Scriptural  figure  of 
keeping  one's  garments  and  washing  one's  robes, 
as  a  spiritual  requirement  for  the  society  of  heaven. 
He  that  hath  not  on  ''  a  wedding  garment"  is  cast 
out,  and  not  permitted  to  have  place  at  the  supper- 
table  of  the  king.  We  must  therefore  distinguish 
this  washing  of  robes  and  cleanness  of  apparel 
from  the  spiritual  and  more  inward  washing  of 
the  man  in  general. 

What,  then,  is  this  particular  washing  of  gar- 
ments ?  This  question  I  have  nowhere  seen  an- 
swered; and  yet  it  needs  to  be  answered,  and  can 
be  answered.  Nor  need  we  be  surprised  if  it 
should  turn  out  to  have  direct  reference  to  the 
main  subject  of  this  Apocalypse.  The  chief  hon- 
ors of  the  kingdom  at  Christ's  coming  are  every- 
where connected  with  a  looking  and  waiting  for 
that  coming,  and  the  earnest  and  loving  direction 
of  our  hearts  and  hopes  to  it  as  the  great  goal  of 
our  faith.  Thus  we  read,  "  Unto  them  thai  look  for 
him  shall  he  appear  the  second  time  without  sin 
unto  salvation."  (Heb.  9  :  28.)    "  The  grace  of  God 


LECTURE    LI.    CHAP.    22  ;  6  -  16.  457 

that  bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared,  teaching  U8 
that  denying  ungodliness  and  fleshly  lusts,  we 
should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this 
present  world,  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  even  the 
glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ:'  (Tit.  2  :  11-13.)  ''There  is  laid  up 
for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord 
the  righteous  Judge  shall  give  me  at  that  day; 
and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love 
His  appearing:'  (2  Tim.  4  :  8.)  "  Ye  turned  to  God 
from  idols  to  serve  the  living  and  true  God,  ajid  to 
wait  for  his  Son  from  heaven:'  (1  Thess.  1 :  9,  10.) 
It  appears  from  this,  and  such  like  passages,  that 
the  attitude  of  looking,  waiting,  watching,  and 
constant  stretching  forth  of  the  heart,  for  the  com- 
ing again  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  his  great  Apoca- 
lypse, is  the  proper  Christian  habit,  and  that  w^e 
put  our  prospects  in  peril  where  this  habit  is  not 
cherished  and  kept  as  the  very  spirit  and  life  of 
our  faith.  And  the  putting  of  ourselves  in  this 
attitude,  and  the  cultivation  of  this  habit,  is  what  I 
take  to  be  the  particular  washing  and  keeping  of 
our  garments  to  which  the  Scriptures  so  frequently 
refer.  It  is  the  general  washing  in  the  blood  of 
Christ  carried  out  into  the  habit  of  the  soul  toward 
his  promised  return. 

An  example  of  this  particular  washing  and 
whitening  of  the  Christian's  robes  is  given  us  in 
the  case  of  the  great  multitude  which  comes  out 
of  the  great  Tribulation.  (Rev.  7 :  9-14.)  What 
was  the  particular  defect  and  trouble  which 
brought  them  into  that  tribulation  ?     Why  were 


468  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

they  not  in  the  company  of  those  who  were  kept 
from  that  "  hour  of  trial"  and  already  crowned  in 
heaven  before  the  great  tribulation  set  in  ?  The 
Saviour  himself,  in  Matthew  24  :  42-51,  and  else- 
where, gives  the  explanation.  They  would  not 
believe  that  Christ  could  come  in  their  lifetime. 
They  did  not  watch  and  keep  themselves  in  readi- 
ness for  his  return.  They  said,  "  My  Lord  de- 
layeth  his  coming;"  and  began  to  smite  their 
fellow-servants,  to  run  with  the  common  world 
around  them,  to  eat  and  drink  with  the  drunken, 
and  did  not  keep  themselves  girded  as  servants 
that  wait  for  their  Lord.  Hence  they  were  not 
ready  when  their  Lord  came,  and  for  that  reason 
were  cut  off  from  the  exalted  favors  of  the  waiting 
and  ready  ones,  and  compelled  to  feel  the  weight 
of  the  afflictions  which  then  fall  in  judgment  upon 
the  godless  world.  And  this  was  the  having  of 
soiled  garments,  unwashed  robes,  which  had  to  be 
made  white  to  fit  them  for  place  in  the  society  of 
heaven.  A  great  multitude  of  them  get  to  heaven 
afterwards,  because  they  wash  their  robes  and 
make  them  clean  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  And 
that  washing,  as  we  learn  from  the  Parable  of  the 
Ten  Virgins,  is  the  bringing  of  themselves  to  a 
true  advent  faith  and  habit. 

So  again,  in  Rev.  16  :  15,  this  same  keeping  of 
garments  is  specifically  connected  with  a  state  or 
habit  of  watching  and  being  in  readiness  for  the 
impending  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  Be- 
hold, I  come  as  a  thief;  blessed  is  he  that  watch- 
eth  and  keepeih  his  garments.'* 


LECTURE    LI.     CHAP.    22:6-15.  4^9 

It  is  therefore  clear  to  me  that  this  washing  of 
robes  aud  keeping  of  garments  relates  to  the  atti- 
tude and  habit  of  looking  for  the  coming  of  Christ, 
and  keeping  in  constant  expectation  and  readiness 
for  it  as  an  impending  event.  And  the  blessed- 
ness of  access  to  and  power  over  the  Tree  of  Life, 
and  of  entrance  by  the  gates  of  pearl  into  the 
Golden  City,  is  here  made  to  depend  on  this  very 
washing  of  our  robes  and  keeping  of  our  gar- 
ments. What  a  lesson  for  those  who  despise  the 
advent  teachings  and  make  light  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  certain  and  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord ! 
Brethren,  as  you  hope  to  walk  those  golden  streets, 
and  eat  of  those  immortal  fruits,  see  to  it  that  you 
have  your  garments  clean  and  "  your  loins  girded 
about  like  unto  men  waiting  for  their  Lord." 

Watch  !  'tis  your  Lord's  command  ; 

And  while  we  speak,  He's  near. 
Mark  the  first  signal  of  His  Hand, 

And  ready  all  appear. 

O  happy  servant  he, 

In  such  a  pasture  found  ! 
He  shall  his  Lord  with  rapture  see, 

And  be  with  honor  crowned. 


LECTURE  FIFTY-SECOOT). 

END  OF  THE  BOOK— CHARACTER  AND  MAJESTY  OF  CHRIST- 
TIME  FOR  FULFILLING  THESE  WONDERS — HOW  WE  ARE  TO 
BE  AFFECTED  TOWARDS  THEM — GUARDS  ABOUT  WHAT  IS 
WRITTEN — CHRIST'S  OWN  SUMMATION  OF  THE  CONTENTS 
OF  THE  BOOK — THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH — CONCLU- 
SION. 


Rev.  22  :  16-21.  (Revised  Text.)  I  Jesus  sent  my  angel  to  testify 
to  you  these  things  upon  [or,  over]  the  churches.  I  am  the  Root  and 
the  race  [or,   Offspring]  of  David,  the  bright,  the  morning  star. 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  who  heareth 
say,  Come.  And  let  him  who  is  athirst  come.  He  who  willeth  let  him 
take  water  of  life  freely  [or,  as  a  gift]. 

I  testify  to  every  one  who  heareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book.  If  any  one  add  [or,  shall  have  added]  to  [or,  upon]  them,  God 
shall  add  to  [or,  upo7i]  him  the  plagues  which  are  written  in  this  book; 
and  if  any  one  shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  pro- 
phecy, God  shall  take  away  his  part  from  the  tree  of  life  and  the  holy 
City  which  are  written  in  this  book. 

He  who  testifieth  these  things  saith,  Yea,  I  come  quickly. 

Amen,  Come,  Lord  Jesus. 

The  grace  of  tue  iJord  Josus  [be]  with  all  the  saints. 


EVERY  attentive  reader  will  observe  how  much 
the  conclusion  of  this  Book  is  like  its  beo^in- 
ning.  Its  derivation  from  God,  the  signifying  of 
it  by  the  angel,  the  seeing,  hearing,  and  writing 
of  it  by  John,  the  blessing  upon  those  who  give 
due  attention  to  it,  the  nearness  of  the  time  for 
the  fulfilment  of  w^hat  is  described,  the  solemn 
(  470) 


LECTURE    LIl.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  47I 

authentication  from  Christ,  the  titles  by  which  he 
describes  himself,  and  even  the  personal  expres- 
sions of  John,  recur  in  the  Epilogue,  almost  the 
same  as  in  the  Prologue.  Much,  therefore,  which 
would  here  be  in  place  has  already  been  antici- 
pated in  the  opening  Lectures  in  this  course.  And 
after  what  was  said  a  week  ago,  there  remain  but 
a  few  points  more  upon  which  to  remark  in  bring- 
ing this  exposition  to  a  close. 

I.  The  first  of  these  points  relates  to  the  charac- 
ter and  majesty  of  Christ. 

Before  he  was  born,  the  angel  said  to  Joseph, 
"  Call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins."  (Matt.  1 :  21.)  This  name  was 
given  him;  and  this  name  he  still  owns  in  heaven. 
He  says :  "  /,  Jesus,  sent  my  angel  to  testify  to  you 
these  things."  It  is  as  our  Saviour  that  he  has 
given  these  revelations,  and  it  is  as  our  Saviour 
that  he  will  fulfil  them.  It  is  part  of  his  salva- 
tion work — the  great  superstructure  of  which  his 
first  coming  was  the  foundation — the  bloom  and 
fruitage  of  what  was  then  planted.  As  Jesus, 
Saviour,  he  was  spoken  of  by  the  ancient  proph- 
ets; as  Jesus,  Saviour,  he  was  born  into  our 
world ;  as  Jesus,  Saviour,  he  died,  rose  again,  and 
ascended  into  heaven;  as  Jesus,  Saviour,  he  sent 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  ever  liveth  to  intercede  for 
us;  and  as  Jesus,  Saviour,  he  sent  his  angel  to 
signify  these  things,  and  will  come  again  to  fulfil 
them. 

But,  in  claiming  that  he  sent  this  angel,  he  at 
the  same  time  claims  to  be  the  sovereign  of  all 


472  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

sacred  wisdom  and  truth.  In  verse  6  it  was  said 
that  "the  Lord,  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  the 
prophets,"  sent  this  angel ;  and  here  he  says,  "  I, 
Jesus,"  sent  him — sent  him  as  '' my  aiigeV  He 
thus  identifies  himself  with  the  eternal  source  of 
all  inspiration — with  the  very  Lord  God  Almighty. 
He  is  not  only  a  Saviour^  but  "  a  great  one."  What 
he  thus  does,  and  proposes  to  do,  and  tells  the 
churches  that  he  will  do,  he  does,  not  as  a  mere 
man,  not  as  a  mere  prophet  and  high  priest,  but 
as  the  possessor  of  all  prerogatives  and  powers  of 
Godhead — as  the  Lord  God  of  angels,  and  the 
Lord  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  prophets.  There 
is  no  place  for  the  Arian  heresy  in  this  Book. 
Whilst  he  is  ever  Jesus,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  he  is  nevertheless 
the  ever-living  Jehovah,  true  God  as  well  as  true 
man,  whom  all  the  principalities  of  heaven  wor- 
ship even  as  the  Lamb,  to  whom  "  the  blessing, 
and  the  honor,  and  the  glory,  and  the  dominion, 
for  the  ages  of  the  ages,"  is  to  be  ascribed. 

]N"or  are  these  the  only  titles  under  which  he 
here  presents  himself.  He  who  says  "  Behold,  I 
come  quickly,  and  my  reward  with  me  to  give  to 
each  as  his  work  is,"  further  adds,  "  /,  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega^  First  and  Last^  the  Beginniyig  and  the 
Und"  Three  times  does  he  take  to  himself  this 
designation.  {Chap.  1 :  8 ;  21 :  6 ;  22  :  13.)  Of  these 
three  expressions,  the  first  is  symbolic,  signifying 
the  same  relation  to  the  universe  which  the  first 
and  last  letters  of  the  alphabet  bear  to  the  whole 
series  of  letters ;  the  second  is  the  same  in  signifi- 


LECTURE    LII.     CHAP.    22:16-21.  473 

cation,  and  is  the  Old  Testament  designation  of 
God,  even  that  by  which  he  encourages  confidence 
in  the  promises  and  predictions  given  through  the 
prophets  (Is.  41 :  4 ;  44 :  6 ;  48  :  12) ;  and  the  third 
emphasizes  the  same  thought  only  in  a  more  philo- 
sophic style.  The  three  together  are  among  the 
most  profound  and  intense  denotations  of  the  eter- 
nity, the  immutability,  the  almightiness,  the  om- 
niscience, and  the  faithfulness  of  Deity.  In  thus 
appropriating  them  to  himself,  the  Lord  Jesus 
claims  to  be  the  eternal  One,  from  whom  all  being 
proceeds,  and  to  whom  all  being  tends  and  re- 
turns,— the  source  and  the  end  of  all  history, — he 
who  called  the  world  into  existence,  presides  over 
all  its  changes,  and  brings  it  to  its  consummation 
according  to  his  own  will.  He  thus  sets  himself 
before  our  faith  as  he  who  originated  all  things, 
who  knows  equally  all  that  has  happened  and  that 
will  happen,  and  who  is  the  ever-living  and  un- 
changing Administrator  of  all  that  is  or  can  be, 
so  that  what  he  makes  known  as  yet  to  take  place 
may  be  accepted  and  relied  on  with  perfect  confix 
dence,  as  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  eternal  Wis- 
dom and  Almightiness.  He  must  therefore  be 
very  God  of  very  God,  the  co-equal  and  co-eternal 
Son  of  the  Father.  And  in  this  character  he 
makes  and  engages  to  perform  whatever  is  pre- 
dicted in  the  prophecies  of  this  Book. 

And  still  further  does  he  describe  himself  in  re- 
lation to  these  revelations.  Sending  his  angel  to 
testify  these  things  for  the  churches,  he  declares, 
"  1  am  the  Boot  and  the  offspring  of  David,  the  bright. 


474  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

the  morning  Star.''  The  duality  of  his  nature,  as  at 
once  both  God  and  man,  is  here  affirmed.  As 
God,  he  is  the  Root  or  origination  of  David, — he 
who  gave  David  being  and  place,  and  out  of  whom 
David  was  raised  up,  even  David's  Lord ;  and  as 
man,  he  is  the  offspring  of  David,  David's  son,  one 
born  of  the  house  and  lineage  of  David.  (Matt.  22 : 
43.)  He  is  the  Kernel  in  the  Kernel  of  the  ancient 
Theocracy,  at  once  the  source  and  blossom  of  it, — 
the  Jehovah  which  induced  it,  at  length  revealed 
as  its  product,  —  the  object  of  Old  Testament 
adoration  incarnated  as  the  great  promised  One 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of  the  house  of  David. 
Hence  the  additional  statement,  that  he  is  "  the 
bright  and  morning  Star.''  The  covetous  prophet, 
Balaam,  impelled  by  the  Spirit  contrary  to  his 
wishes,  prophesied  of  a  star  to  come  out  of  Jacob, 
and  a  sceptre  to  rise  out  of  Israel,  with  which 
should  be  the  dominion.  (N'umb.  24  :  17-19.) 
That  star,  now  come  to  its  full  brightness,  and 
ushering  in  the  morning  of  the  eternal  blessed- 
ness, Christ  here  claims  to  be.  And  as  the  God- 
man,  risen  out  of  Jacob,  and  possessed  of  all 
authority  and  dominion,  he  gives  forth  these  reve- 
lations, and  pledges  to  fulfil  them.  He  thus  teaches 
us  what  a  sublime  Lord  and  Saviour  we  have,  and 
what  is  the  foundation  on  which  we  may  count 
that  he  will  fulfil  all  the  wonders  of  this  Apoca- 
lypse. 

n.  A  second  of  these  remaining  points  relates 
to  the  time  when  these  things  shall  come  to  pass. 


LECTURE    LII.     CHAP.    22:16-21.  475 

One  cannot  but  be  impressed  with  the  constantly 
repeated  expressions  touching  the  nearness  of  these 
occurrences.  In  the  very  opening  verses  the  note 
was  sounded,  "  2'he  thne  is  near,''  The  same  is 
heard  throughout  all  that  followed.  And  here, 
in  the  conclusion  of  all,  the  same  is  reiterated, 
over  and  over,  that  these  things  "  must  come  to  pass 
shortly.''  Three  times  the  Saviour  says,  "  Behold^ 
I  come  quickly,"  And  the  voice  which  commanded 
the  seer  not  to  seal  up  what  he  heard  and  saw,  also 
adds,  ''  The  time  is  near,"  Nor  is  it  here  alone,  but 
throughout  the  New  Testament  in  general,  that 
such  expressions  are  used.  Everywhere  is  the 
promised  Apocalypse  of  the  Lord  Jesus  repre- 
sented as  close  at  hand,  liable  to  occur  at  any  time. 
The  impression  thus  made  upon  the  early  Chris- 
tians was,  that  Christ  might  come  at  any  day  or 
hour,  even  in  their  own  lifetime.  Exactly  when 
he  would  come,  was  nowhere  told  them.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Saviour's  word,  it  was  not  for  them  to 
know  the  times  or  the  seasons,  which  the  Father 
hath  put  in  his  own  power.  (Acts  1 :  6,  7.)  IS'ay, 
from  that  time  to  the  present,  and  for  all  time  till 
the  promise  itself  comes  to  be  fulfilled,  the  saying 
of  Christ  has  held,  and  must  hold,  "  Of  that  day 
and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of 
heaven,  but  my  Father  only."  (Matt.  24  :  36.)  It 
was  useless,  therefore,  for  them,  and  will  continue 
to  be  useless  for  any  one,  to  attempt  to  ascertain 
or  determine,  how  long  it  will  be  till  Christ  shall 
come  again,  or  how  soon  all  these  things  shall  be 
accomplished.     When  once  they  begin  to  come  to 


476  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

pass,  men  will  be  able  to  tell  where  they  are,  and 
to  know  that  the  time  has  arrived ;  but,  till  then, 
they  must  needs  remain  in  ignorance.  All  the 
instruction  which  we  have  upon  the  subject  is, 
that  what  is  foreshown  will  certainly  come  to  pass ; 
and  that,  from  the  beginning  until  the  fulfilment 
commences,  we  are  to  be  in  constant  expectation 
of  it  any  year,  any  day,  any  hour;  to  which  the 
ever-present  and  ever-intensifying  signs,  together 
with  the  multiplied  precepts  of  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures, continually  admonish  us.  Well  has  Archer 
Butler  said,  "  To  seek  to  penetrate  more  closely 
into  these  awful  secrets  is  vain.  A  sacred  obscu- 
rity envelops  them.  The  cloud  that  shrouded  the 
actual  presence  of  God  on  the  mercy-seat,  shrouds 
still  his  expected  presence  on  the  throne  of  judg- 
ment. It  is  a  purposed  obscurity,  and  most  salu- 
tary and  useful  obscurity,  a  wise  and  merciful 
denial  of  knowledge.  In  this  matter  it  is  his  gra- 
cious will  to  be  the  perpetual  subject  of  watchful- 
ness, expectation,  conjecture,  fear,  desire, — but  no 
more.  To  cherish  anticipation,  he  has  permitted 
gleams  of  light  to  cross  the  darkness;  to  bafile  pre- 
sumption, he  has  made  them  only  gleams.  He  has 
harmonized  with  consummate  skill,  every  part  of 
his  revelation  to  produce  this  general  result; — 
now  speaking  as  if  a  few  seasons  more  were  to 
herald  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth,  now  as 
if  his  days  were  thousands  of  years ;  at  one  mo- 
ment whispering  into  the  ear  of  his  disciple,  as  if 
ready  to  be  revealed,  at  another  retreating  into 
the  depth  of  infinite  ages.     It  is  his  purpose  thus 


LECTURE    LI  I.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  477 

to  live  iu  our  faith  and  hope,  remote  yet  near, 
pledged  to  no  moment,  possible  at  any;  wor- 
shipped not  with  the  consternation  of  a  near,  or 
the  indifference  of  a  distant  certainty,  but  with  the 
anxious  vigilance  that  awaits  a  contingency  ever 
at  hand.  This,  the  deep  devotion  of  watchfuhiess, 
humility,  and  awe,  he  who  knows  us  best  knows 
to  be  the  fittest  posture  for  our  spirits;  therefore 
does  he  preserve  the  salutary  suspense  that  insures 
it,  and  therefore  will  he  determine  his  advent  to 
no  definite  day  in  the  calendar  of  eternity." 

But  the  much-emphasized  fact,  put  forth  with 
all  these  promises  and  predictions  of  his  return, 
that  the  interval  between  us  and  their  accomplish- 
ment dare  never  be  extended  in  our  estimate,  and 
is  always  represented  as  brief, — so  brief  that  we 
never  know  but  that  another  year,  or  month,  or 
week,  or  day  may  reveal  to  us  our  coming  Lord, — 
ought  not  to  be  without  the  most  quickening 
effect  upon  our  hearts  and  devotions.  Certainly, 
what  we  are  so  solemnly  told  is  "near,"  and 
"  must  shortly  come  to  pass,"  we  are  at  no  liberty 
to  postpone,  or  to  think  yet  far  away.  And  espe- 
cially now,  that  eighteen  hundred  years  of  that 
"shortly"  have  passed,  and  that  every  symptom 
of  the  close  proximity  of  the  end  is  so  manifest, 
should  we  beware  of  thinking  that  years  and  ages 
are  yet  to  intervene  before  our  Lord's  coming  can 
occur.  Ever,  as  the  Church  moves  on  through 
time,  and  above  all  in  the  days  in  which  we  live, 
the  next  thing  for  every  Christian  to  be  looking 
for  in  this  world  is  the  coming  of  Christ  to  fulfil 


478  ^HE    APOCALYPSE. 

what  is  written  in  this  Book.     The  Bible  tells  of 
nothing  between  us  and  that  Day. 

III.  A  third  of  these  remaining  points  relates 
to  the  proper  spiritual  affection  toward  the  speedy 
accomplishment  of  these  holy  predictions. 

The  Apocalypse  of  Christ  is  the  coming  or  reve- 
lation of  Christ  in  the  scenes  and  achievements 
which  are  here  described.  But  it  is  not  made 
known  to  us  as  a  thing  of  cold  and  barren  specu- 
lation. It  is  the  living  outcome  of  all  our  faith 
and  hope  as  Christians.  It  is  a  thing  to  which 
every  proper  Christian  impulse  necessarily  goes 
out.  There  can  be  no  genuine  Christianity,  no 
true  and  living  sympathy  with  what  we  profess  to 
believe,  if  there  be  no  going  forth  of  the  soul  to 
what  is  thus  set  before  us.  This  is  here  expressed 
with  a  depth  and  intensity  which  should  not  fail 
to  impress  every  serious  heart. 

First  of  all,  the  Holy  Ghost  himself  calls  for  the 
Apocalypse  of  Christ.  "  The  Spirit  says,  Come;" 
that  is.  Come  thou  ;  as  an  answer  made  to  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  preceding  verse.  So  the  Syriac 
version,  and  all  sound  interpreters.  When  the 
promise  of  the  Paraclete,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  was 
given,  Christ  said:  "He  will  guide  you  into  all 
truth :  and  Ae  will  show  you  things  to  come.''  (John 
16 :  13.)  Descending  upon  the  Church  always  to 
abide  with  it,  that  Spirit  has  ever  been  active  and 
operative  in  and  through  the  Church.  And  in 
all  these  gracious  operations  there  is  a  direct  and 
constant  reference  to  these  things  to  come,  to  make 


LECTURE    LI  I.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  479 

them  known,  to  awaken  and  nurture  faith  in  them, 
and  to  prepare  men  to  become  partakers  in  their 
blessedness.  In  all  these  operations  there  is  there- 
fore a  constant  looking  and  yearning  for  the  ful- 
lilment  of  what  is  thus  to  come,  and  hence  an 
unceasing  calling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  bright 
and  morning  star  to  come,  as  promised  and  fore- 
shown,—to  consummate  the  great  work  by  that 
Apocalypse  to  which  all  prophecy,  all  faith,  all 
hope,  and  all  the  operative  graces  of  the  Spirit 
have  reference.  In  other  words,  it  is  the  very 
spirit,  soul,  and  aim  of  divine  grace  to  bring  the 
great  consummation,  which  comes  alone  through 
the  coming  of  Christ.  In  the  inspiration  of  proph- 
ets and  apostles,  in  the  regeneration  and  sancti- 
lication  of  men,  and  in  all  the  appointments,  en- 
'dowments,  and  labors  of  the  Church,  in  so  far  as 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  potent  and  active  in  them,  there 
is  one  unceasing  call  and  pleading  for  that  return 
of  the  Godman,  by  whose  coming  again  all  things 
are  to  be  completed  and  the  whole  work  finished 
up.  Two  things,  therefore,  are  thus  certified  to 
us;  first,  that  there  is  no  true  and  saving  religion 
— no  piety  originating  from  and  resting  in  the 
Spirit  of  God — which  does  not  anxiously  move 
toward  and  centre  on  Christ  and  his  promised 
Apocalypse;  and  second,  that  the  fulfilment  of 
these  predictions  is  absolutely  certain,  in  that 
the  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Church 
are  all  conditioned  to  and  ever  calling  for  the 
bright  and  morning  star  to  come. 

And  what  the  Spirit  looks  to  and  calls  for  is  re- 
YOii.  III.  88 


4S0  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

poated  in  the  spiritual  consciousness  of  the  Bride. 
The  Bride  is  not  the  Church  outwardly  taken;  for 
not  all  who  have  connection  with  the  Church  as  a 
visible  body  shall  be  everlastingly  joined  with  the 
Lamb.  !N^one  are  the  Bride  but  those  who  in  living 
inw^ard  fact  are  joined  to  Christ  as  the  branches 
are  joined  to  the  vine.  Only  those  who  are  spirit- 
ually in  Christ,  "  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh, 
and  of  his  bones"  (Eph.  5 :  30),  are  his  Bride.  And 
it  is  here  given  as  a  characteristic  of  the  Bride, 
that  she  re-echoes  and  embodies  the  call  of  the 
Spirit,  even  the  call  for  the  bright  and  morning 
star  to  come.  When  men  forget  to  think  of  the 
coming  again  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  his  great  Apoc- 
alypse,— when  they  cease  to  look  and  long  for  that 
as  the  crown  and  goal  of  their  faith  and  hope, — 
when  they  make  light  of  it,  and  treat  it  as  a  fable, 
and  regard  all  concern  about  it  as  fanaticism, — 
they  show  and  prove  that  they  do  not  belong  to 
that  elect  body  of  God's  saints  which  constitutes 
the  Bride  of  the  Lamb;  for  the  deepest  heart-voice 
of  the  Bride,  with  that  of  the  Spirit  itself,  is, "  Come, 
Lord  Jesus;  come  as  thou  hast  promised  and  fore- 
shown; come  quickly."  Taking  all  the  precepts 
and  inculcations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  with 
regard  to  Christ's  return,  it  becomes  a  plain  and 
evident  impossibility  for  people  to  be  true  and 
obedient  followers  of  the  Gospel,  and  not  to  look, 
and  watch,  and  long,  and  pray,  and  make  it  a  great 
point  in  all  their  religious  activity  and  devotion  to 
be  ready  for  the  glorious  coming  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.     The  Apostles  and 


LECTURE    LII.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  43;]^ 

early  Christians  were  all  alive  to  this  subject  be- 
yond everything  else  in  Christianity.  It  was  their 
life,  their  inspiration,  the  pole-star  of  their  faith 
and  hope.  It  was  the  thing  which  most  marked 
them,  set  them  apart  from  the  world,  and  was 
their  great  distinguishing  spirit,  as  compared  with 
other  people.  And  if  it  is  not  so  with  Christians 
now,  it  is  because  they  have  sunk  away  from  the 
original  life  of  their  religion,  and  lost  their  proper 
fellowship  with  the  true  and  only  Bride  of  the 
Lamb;  for  the  voice  of  the  Bride  to  her  Lord  con- 
tinually is,  "  Come,''  ITor  can  she  be  in  the  spirit 
and  life  of  a  true  Bride  without  having  this  feeling 
ever  living  in  her  soul,  and  permeating  her  whole 
being.  Destined  for  Christ,  and  having  her  chief 
joy  and  salvation  in  him  and  what  he  is  ordained  to 
accomplish  for  his  people,  she  cannot  but  go  out 
with  all  zeal  and  fervency  for  his  revelation,  or  she 
ceases  in  soul  from  her  character  as  his  Bride. 

And  what  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  every 
one  that  heareth  is  to  say,  and  must  learn  to  say, 
if  ever  he  is  to  become  partaker  in  these  glorious 
things.  The  hearer  is  he  who  is  made  acquainted 
with  these  great  purposes  of  God,  and  is  informed 
of  what  is  in  reserve  for  God's  true  people.  But 
his  hearing  will  profit  him  nothing  if  it  does  not 
awaken  his  soul,  kindle  his  desires,  and  draw  him 
to  devout  longing  and  endeavor  to  possess  and 
realize  theee  things  for  himself.  Nor  is  he  rightly 
awake  and  appreciative  to  what  he  hears,  so  long 
as  he  does  not  care  whether  Christ  is  to  come 
again  or  not,  or  does  not  centre  his  soul  upon  what 


482  TH^    APOCALYPSE. 

can  only  come  with  Christ's  glorious  Apocalypse. 
Therefore  the  word  here  is,  "  Let  him  who  hearetk 
say^  Comey  Kedemption  lies  in  that  coming;  and 
if  men  do  not  learn  to  desire  it,  they  do  not  yet 
desire  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
are  not  yet  true  and  believing  hearers.  For  all 
eft'ectual  hearing  of  the  Gospel  must  come  to  fer- 
vent and  loving  desire  and  prayer  for  Christ  to 
fulfil  all  his  plan  and  purposes  of  grace. 

And  from  this  emphatic  and  all-pervading  look- 
ing and  yearning  of  everything  Christian  for  the 
Apocalypse  of  Christ,  the  call  for  it  widens  and 
deepens  into  an  invitation  and  incentive  to  all  who 
desire  eternal  blessedness,  and  to  all  who  have  any 
mind  or  appetite  for  the  waters  of  life.  '^  And  let 
him  who  is  aihirst  come.  He  who  willeth  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely^  The  meaning  is,  that  the 
waters  of  life,  as  they  flow  in  the  New  Jerusalem, 
which  comes  not  till  Christ  comes,  are  to  be  had 
without  money  and  without  price;  but  that  those 
who  thirst  for  those  waters  are  to  join  with  the 
company  and  call  of  those  who  thus  yearn  for  the 
blessed  consummation.  If  any  one  is  athirst  for 
these  waters,  or  has  a  mind  and  appetite  for  them, 
the  word  is,  '-'-  Let  him  come,^^  Come  whither,  come 
to  what  ?  Come  into  fellowship  with  the  Spirit,  the 
Bride,  and  every  believing  hearer  of  their  testi- 
mony, in  yearning,  and  looking,  and  praying  for 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  to  fulfil  what  he  has  prom- 
ised, and  this  Book  describes.  Everything  in  grace 
is  moving  and  looking  to  that;  and  if  any  are 
athirst  for  God's  living  waters,  or  if  any  have  a 


LECTURE    LI  I.    CHAP.     22:10-21.  433 

will  to  partake  of  them,  this  is  the  way  to  get 
them.  ]N'o  price  is  set  upon  them.  They  are  free 
as  the  air  to  every  one  who  would  have  them. 
But  the  free  partaking  of  them  is  by  faith  in 
Christ,  by  seizing  hold  upon  his  promises  to  his 
Church,  and  by  joining  the  cry  of  the  Spirit,  the 
yearning  of  the  Bride,  and  the  soul  of  all  right 
hope,  in  "  looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the  com- 
ing of  the  day  of  God,"  even  the  glorious  Apoca- 
lypse of  the  blessed  Christ. 

IV.  Accordingly  there  is  presented  still  another 
point  with  reference  to  the  preservation  of  what  is 
set  forth  in  this  Book.  It  is  the  Book  of  the  out- 
comes of  all  the  operations  of  God  in  our  world. 
It  is  the  great  Redeemer's  own  foreshowing  to  his 
people  how  and  wherein  all  their  faith  in  him  and 
all  their  expectations  as  true  believers  are  to  reach 
their  final  goal.  There  is  therefore  no  more 
important  sacred  Book,  none  more  necessary  to 
regulate  the  beliefs  and  anticipations  of  Christian 
people  with  regard  to  the  future.  To  tamper  with 
it,  is  to  tamper  with  the  divinely  given  chart  of 
the  most  momentous  things  in  the  destiny  of 
Christ  and  his  Church  and  people.  And  hence, 
with  a  solemnity  that  we  nowhere  else  encoun- 
ter, and  with  a  stringency  the  most  intense  in  all 
the  word  of  God,  the  Saviour  himself,  from  his 
throne  in  heaven,  says:  '''  I  testify  to  every  one  who 
heareth  the  ivords  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book,  Jf  any 
one  add  [or  shall  have  added^  to  or  2ipon  them,  God 
shall  add  to  or  upon  him  the  plagues  which  tire  ivritten 


484  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

in  this  Book;  and  if  any  one  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  Book  of  this  proph&ey,  God  shall  take 
away  his  'part  from  the  tree  of  life  and  the  holy  City 
which  are  written  in  this  Book.'' 

As  if  this  Book  were  itself  the  Tree  of  Life 
which  it  describes,  here  are  the  Cherubim  with 
flaming  sword  turning  every  way  to  guard  and 
protect  it.  To  Israel,  in  the  days  of  Moses,  God 
said,  "  Ye  shall  not  add  unto  the  word  that  I  com- 
mand you,  neither  shall  ye  diminish  from  it." 
(Deut.  4  :  2.)  At  a  later  period  the  wise  man  said, 
"  Every  word  of  God  is  pure.  Add  thou  not  unto 
his  words  lest  he  reprove  thee,  and  thou  be  found 
a  liar."  (Prov.  30 :  5,  6.)  But  here  the  warning 
and  prohibitions  are  far  more  intense,  and  the 
penalties  terrible  in  the  extreme.  To  mutilate 
this  Book,  to  take  from  or  to  add  to  what  it  de- 
scribes as  the  course  and  outcome  of  the  divine 
purposes,  is  simply  to  forfeit  salvation  itself.  Could 
this  be  if  we  did  not  here  have  the  very  kernel  and 
consummation  of  all  that  prophets  have  written, 
and  in  which  grace  and  salvation  have  their  chief 
significance  and  crown  ?  Would  God  affix  the  pro- 
foundest  sanctions  of  eternity  to  a  dim  outline  of 
a  little  mixed  history  of  this  world,  which  three- 
fourths  of  its  readers  never  knew  or  could  un- 
derstand, and  which  might  never  have  been  re- 
vealed at  all  without  any  appreciable  damage  to 
the  piety  or  to  the  hopes  of  God's  people  in  any 
age  ?  The  very  absurdity  of  the  thought  is  dem- 
onstration that  this  Book  is  something  infinitely 
higher,  more  solemn,  and  more  essential  than  the 


LECTURE    LI  I.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  435 

vast  mass  of  modern  exposition  makes  it.  No 
man  can  be  lost  or  saved  simply  on  account  of  bis 
receiving  or  rejecting  what  tbe  historical  inter- 
preters set  forth  as  the  chief  meaning  of  the 
Apocalypse.  On  their  theory,  the  whole  Book 
might  be  sunk  in  eternal  oblivion,  and  still  no  se- 
rious damage  result  to  the  faith  of  the  Church,  or 
men's  calculations  for  the  future.  But  in  the 
estimate  of  God,  he  who  adds  to  or  takes  from 
what  it  presents,  disables  all  right  conception  of 
the  system  of  redemption,  and  inflicts  an  injury  so 
great  that  he  who  does  it  need  never  hope  for  sal- 
vation. How  important,  therefore,  how  precious 
in  the  eye  of  heaven,  how  necessary  to  the  right 
instruction  of  God's  people,  how  vital  to  the  proper 
Christian  faith  and  hope  are  the  unmutilated  and 
unchanged  foreshowings  which  this  Book  was 
given  to  set  forth ! 

The  penalty  upon  every  corrupter  of  these  rec- 
ords also  helps  to  fix  and  establish  the  right  inter- 
pretation of  them.  "  Plagues"  constitute  one  of 
the  prominent  subjects;  and  those  "plagues"  are 
to  be  laid  upon  each  hearer  who  involves  himself 
in  the  guilt  of  adding  to  or  diminishing  the  con- 
tents of  this  Book.  They  must  therefore  be  literal 
"  plagues,"  such  as  can  be  laid  upon  separate  indi- 
viduals, and  not  mere  symbols  of  disturbances  of 
nations,  shakings  of  empires,  calamities  to  systems, 
and  revolutions  in  governments.  Such  "  plagues" 
are  incapable  of  being  imposed  upon  individual 
men,  and  individual  men  are  contemplated  in  this 
anathema.     Except,   therefore,  where   otherwise 


486 


THE    APOCALYPSE. 


indicated,  "  the  plagues  which  are  written  in  this 
Book"  are  contemplated  by  Christ  himself  as  lit- 
eral "plagues;"  and  we  have  simply  followed  his 
mind  in  so  explaining  them.  Just  what  particular 
plagues  are  covered  by  the  threat,  we  may  not  be 
able  to  determine;  but  what  the  wicked  sufl'er,  the 
same  is  to  be  the  portion  of  him  who  dares  to 
abridge  or  augment  the  contents  of  these  records. 
And  when  we  consider  how  unbelief  despises  this 
Book  and  its  philosophy  of  things,— how  a  self- 
wise  and  rationalistic  latitudinarianism  neglects  it, 
ridicules  all  serious  attention  to  it,  and  empties  it 
of  all  respectable  meaning  and  worth, — how  a 
presumptuous  criticism  disables  it  with  wild  and 
stilted  theories  of  poetry  and  symbolization, — and 
how  even  Christian  men  fight  against  the  admission 
of  its  clear  teachings  when  allowed  to  speak  for 
themselves, — what  are  we  to  conclude,  but  that  in 
these  very  things  we  have  the  sowing  for  the  whole 
harvest  of  plagues  written  in  this  Book? 

0,  my  friends,  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  suppress 
or  stultify  the  word  of  God,  and  above  all  "the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  Book."  To  put 
forth  for  truth  what  is  not  the  truth, — to  denounce 
as  error,  condemn,  repudiate,  or  emasculate  what 
God  himself  hath  set  his  seal  to  as  his  mind  and 
purpose,  is  one  of  those  high  crimes,  not  only 
against  God,  but  against  the  souls  of  men,  which 
cannot  go  unpunished.  With  an  honest  and  ever- 
prayerful  heart,  and  with  these  solemn  and  awful 
warnings  ever  before  my  eyes,  I  have  endeavored 
to  ascertain  and  indicate  in  these  Lectures  what 


LECTURE    LIL    CHAP.    22:16-21.  4^7 

our  gracious  Lord  and  Master  has  been  so  partic- 
ular to  make  known  and  defend.  If  I  have  read 
into  this  Book  anything  which  he  has  not  put 
there,  or  read  out  of  it  anything  which  he  has  put 
there,  with  the  profoundest  sorrow  would  I  recant, 
and  willingly  burn  up  the  books  in  which  such 
mischievous  wickedness  is  contained.  If  I  have 
in  anything  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  due  subjec- 
tion to  what  is  written,  or  curtailed  in  any  way 
the  depth  and  measure  of  what  Jesus  by  his  angel 
has  signified  for  the  learning  of  the  Churches,  I 
need  not  the  condemnation  of  men  to  heap  upon 
me  the  burden  of  censure  which  I  deserve.  If 
feebleness,  or  rashness,  or  overweening  confidence 
in  my  own  understanding  has  distorted  anything, 
I  can  only  deplore  the  fault,  and  pray  God  to  send 
a  man  more  competent  to  unfold  to  us  the  mighty 
truths  which  here  stand  written.  According  to 
the  grace  and  light  given  me,  have  I  spoken.  And 
before  God,  angels,  and  men,  I  am  compelled  to 
protest,  especially,  against  all  that  modern  inter- 
pretation which  dwarfs  this  Book  into  an  over- 
wrought and  indeterminate  showing  of  a  few 
meagre  chapters  of  the  Church's  history  this  side 
the  day  of  judgment.  If  I  err,  God  forgive  me! 
If  I  am  right,  God  bless  my  feeble  testimony  !  In 
either  case,  God  speed  his  everlasting  truth ! 

V.  Yet  one  other  point  remains  to  be  noticed. 
It  is  Christ's  own  final  summation  of  the  contents 
of  this  Book.  From  the  beginning  we  were  told 
that  it  was  given  to  show  the  Apocalypse  of  Jesus 
Christ.     Tiie  whole  series  of  visions  fit  together 


488  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

as  SO  many  successive  acts  and  administrations  in 
the  closing  up  of  this  present  world,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  the  eternal  order,  according  to  God's 
eternal  purpose.  And  so  here,  in  the  last  words 
of  the  Book,  the  Saviour  himself  sums  up  the  all- 
comprehending  substance  of  the  whole  in  this  one 
brief  sentence :  *^  He  who  iesiifieih  these  things  saith, 
Yea,  I  COME  quickly." 

Who  that  has  ever  looked  carefully  into  the 
subject,  but  has  been  struck  with  the  towering 
prominence  which  the  Scriptures  everywhere  as- 
sign to  the  coming  again  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  The 
New  Testament  has  more  references  to  this  par- 
ticular topic  than  it  has  pages.  Of  all  the  seven 
or  eight  thousand  verses  of  which  it  is  composed, 
one  out  of  every  twenty-five  points  forward  with 
eager  gesture  to  the  appearing  again  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  Again  and  again  it  is  set  forth  as  the  great 
hope  of  the  Church.  There  is  not  a  Christian 
grace  or  virtue  for  the  enforcement  of  which  ap- 
peal is  not  made  to  it.  Nor  is  there  another  sub- 
ject upon  which  more  stress  is  laid  in  all  the  Word 
of  God.  To  many,  indeed,  it  is  anything  but  wel- 
come. There  be  even  professing  Christians  who 
would  rather  not  hear  about  it,  and  who,  if  they 
could  have  their  way,  would  erase  it  from  the 
Creed,  and  silence  all  preaching  concerning  it. 
But  the  religion  of  such  is  much  aside  from  the 
Scriptures,  and  occasion  is  urgent  for  them  to  be- 
stir themselves  to  re-examine  and  relay  their  foun- 
dations. Christian  faith  and  hope  have  no  outcome 
but  in  the  glorious  Apocalypse  of  Jesus.     And  only 


LECTURE    LII.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  439 

when  we  come  to  understand  that  the  comintr 
again  of  Christ  is  the  fullilment  of  the  things  de- 
scribed in  this  Book,  can  we  appreciate  why  so 
much  is  referred  to  that  coming,  and  why  the  ven- 
erable Apostle  should  here,  at  the  end  of  his  Book, 
bow  his  hoary  head,  and  say,  and  write,  his  solemn 
"  Amen.     JEven  so  come,  Lord  Jesus," 

The  truth  is,  my  friends,  that  there  is  no  greater 
or  gladder  promise  in  all  the  Book  of  God,  than 
this  last  word  of  Jesus  to  his  people,  "  Yea,  I  come 
quickly,"  It  is  the  promise  of  promises— the  crown 
and  consummation  of  all  promise — the  coronation 
of  all  evangelic  hopes — the  sum  of  all  prophecy 
and  prayer.  Nature  and  grace  alike  proclaim  a 
glorified  Messiah,  come  again  from  heaven  in  his 
al mightiness,  as  indispensable  to  complete  their 
appointed  course.  Nature  calls  for  him  thus  to 
come,  to  rectify  her  unwilling  disorders,  to  repair 
her  shattered  structures,  to  restore  her  oppressed 
energies,  to  vindicate  her  voice  of  conscience  long 
despised,  her  sublime  testimony  to  the  Creator  so 
long  questioned  and  overlooked.  But  grace  sends 
forth  a  still  mightier  call.  If  the  whole  creation 
groans  and  travails  together  in  pain  for  the  mani- 
festation of  the  sons  of  God,  how  much  more  those 
sons  of  God  themselves  ! 

And  why  should  not  this  be  our  spirit?  Com- 
pare the  sordidness  of  this  world  with  the  crystal 
purity  and  splendor  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Think 
of  the  dust,  and  dearth,  and  soil  and  toil  of  earth, 
in  comparison  with  that  River  and  Tree  of  Life 
whieh  refres^h,  and  adorn,  and  satisfy^be  dwellers 


490  ^^^^    APOCALYPSE. 

in  those  eternal  mansions.  Consider  the  ill  mix. 
tures,  defects,  wearinesses,  vexations,  darkness, 
and  disabilities  of  life  here,  alongside  of  the  per- 
fections and  sublimities  which  mark  the  society 
and  estate  of  those  who  walk  those  streets  of  gold. 
Why  should  we  wish  to  suffer,  and  toil,  and  sigh 
amid  the  miseries  of  a  scene  like  this,  when  such 
a  city  of  unchanging  blessedness  throws  open  its 
gates  of  pearl  for  our  admission  ?  Are  we  so  in 
love  with  aches,  and  ills,  and  wrongs,  and  dis- 
appointments, and  treacheries,  and  diseases,  and 
death-beds,  and  graves,  and  torments  and  tempta- 
tions of  Satan,  as  not  to  be  willing  to  be  done  with 
them  forever?  With  what  ardor,  then,  and  de- 
light, and  enthusiastic  joy,  should  we  embrace 
this  word  of  our  Saviour,  "  Yea,  I  come  quickly  F^ 
Have  we  no  mind  for  the  realization  of  that  pre- 
cious "liberty  of  the  children  of  God," — no  wish 
to  behold  our  lowliness  glorified  in  the  glory  of 
the  Man  of  ]^azareth, — no  longing  to  have  our 
humble  labors  recognized  and  approved  by  our  en- 
throned Redeemer, — no  appreciation  of  the  vindi- 
cation of  our  persevering  faith,  of  the  consumma- 
tion of  our  hopes  and  prayers,  of  the  brightening 
of  our  love  and  charity  into  rewards  eternal  and 
infinite?  Ah,  yes;  everything  in  and  about  us, 
in  the  weakness  of  man  and  in  the  working  of 
God,  yearns  and  calls  and  prophesies  for  the  com- 
ing again  of  Jesus, — everything  but  the  cold,  un- 
feeling, unsanctified  heart  of  man  !  But  there, 
alas,  no  voice  is  heard  going  forth  to  bid  the  Lord 
of  salvation  welcome  !     People's  hearts  are  inured 


LECTUKE   LI  I.    CHAP.    22:16-21.  49I 

to  the  world's  corruptions,  and  how  can  they  hail 
an  immortality  of  meekness,  simplicity,  and  love  ? 
Men's  spirits  are  habituated  to  seek  unholy  ends 
by  means  still  more  unholy,  and  how  can  they  en- 
dure the  bringing  in  of  everlasting  righteousness? 
Their  calculations,  hopes,  and  aims  are  bounded 
to  things  of  time  and  sense,  and  how  can  they  re- 
gard otherwise  than  with  terror  so  complete  a 
change  as  that  when  he  who  now  rules  behind  a 
mass  of  permitted  evils  visibly  assumes  the  reins 
of  universal  dominion  ?  Of  course  all  such  are  ill 
at  ease  with  our  doctrines,  and  well  may  tremble, 
and  call  to  rocks  and  mountains  to  cover  and  hide 
them  from  the  discomfiture  and  sorrow  which 
Christ's  Apocalypse  must  bring  to  souls  so  eartby. 
But  let  all  God's  saints  hold  fast  the  blessed  hope, 
and  lift  up  their  heads  as  they  see  the  time  ap- 
proaching. What  is  there  to  command  our  fond- 
est joy,  our  gladdest  anticipation,  if  not  this  com- 
ing day  of  our  completed  happiness  and  finished 
redemption? 

Fiction  has  painted  the  picture  of  a  maiden 
whose  lover  left  her  for  a  voyage  to  the  Holy 
Land,  promising  on  his  return  to  make  her  his 
beloved  bride.  Many  told  her  that  she  would 
never  see  him  again.  But  she  believed  his  word, 
and  evening  by  evening  she  went  down  to  the 
lonely  shore,  and  kindled  there  a  beacon-light  in 
sisrht  of  the  roarins^  waves,  to  hail  and  welcome 
the  returning  ship  which  was  to  bring  again  her 
betrothed.  And  by  that  watchfire  she  took  her 
stand  each  night,  praying  to  the  winds  to  hasten 
on  the  sluggish  sa'ls,  that  he  who  was  everything 


492  THE    APOCALYPSE. 

to  her  might  come.  Even  so  that  blessed  Lord, 
who  has  loved  us  unto  death,  has  gone  away  to 
the  mysterious  Holy  Land  of  heaven,  promising 
on  his  return  to  make  us  his  happy  and  eternal 
Bride.  Some  say  that  be  has  gone  forever,  and 
that  here  we  shall  never  see  him  more.  But  his 
last  woiti  was,  "  Yea,  I  come  quickly."  And  on  the 
dark  and  misty  beach  sloping  out  into  the  eternal 
B,ea,  each  true  believer  stands  by  the  love-lit  tire, 
looking,  and  waiting,  and  praying  and  hoping  for 
the  fulfilment  of  his  word,  in  nothing  gladder  than 
in  his  pledge  and  promise,  and  calling  ever  from 
the  soul  of  sacred  love,  "Even  so  come.  Lord 
Jesus."  And  some  of  these  nights,  while  the 
world  is  busy  with  its  gay  frivolities,  and  laugh- 
ing at  the  maiden  on  the  shore,  a  form  shall  rise 
over  the  surging  w\nves,  as  once  on  Galilee,  to  vin- 
dicate forever  all  this  watching  and  devotion,  and 
bring  to  the  faithful  and  constant  heart  a  joy,  and 
glory,  and  triumph  which  never  more  shall  end. 

To  bring  listless  and  uninstructed  souls  believ- 
ingly  and  intelligently  to  the  position  and  attitude 
of  that  maiden,  is  the  intent  of  this  Book,  and  of 
these  Lectures  upon  it.  And  if  by  these  long 
studies  any  hearers  are  brought  to  such  love-wait- 
ing and  watching  on  these  dark  shores  of  time, 
with  thanks  and  praises  to  Him  from  whom  has 
come  the  grace,  and  with  heart  and  soul  set  in 
confident  expectation  of  the  speedy  fulfilment  of 
the  wonders  we  have  been  contemplating,  I  am 
content  to  take  my  leave  of  these  labors. 

"  I'he  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  he  with  all  the  saints,''* 
AME]S\ 


INDEX. 


The  lettering,  i,  ii,  iii,  denotes  tlie  volumes  ;  the  figures  refer  to    the 
pages,  and  the  letter  n  to  the  footnotes. 


Abaddon,  king  of  the  locusts^  ii, 
82;  as  a  place,  iii,  277,  278. 

Abyss,  the,  opened  by  Satan,  ii, 
80-94  ;  place  of.  ii,  93,  n  ;  diflfers 
from  "  lake  of  fire,"  iii,  270 

Adam  of  St.  Victor,  quoted,  i, 
255,  n 

Advent,  Second,  of  Christ,  i,  53-60, 
167-169;  brings  honors  to  the 
redeemed,  i,  169,  170;  near  at 
hand,  i,  230-232  ;  iii,  475-477; 
gradual,  ii,  155;  extending 
througb  a  variety  of  scenes,  iii, 
161  ;  how  we  are  to  await  the, 
iii,  478-482;  attitude  of  the 
church  toward,  iii,  489-492; 
signs  accompanying,  i,  57  ;  de- 
lay of,  ii,  143-146  ;  certainty  of, 
ii,  146-148  ;  invisible  stage  of, 
iii,  Pref.  iv  ;  visible,  i,  56,  57  ; 
iii,  239-247 

Air,  convulsions  in,  during  the 
seventh  plague,  iii.  96 

Alford,  quoted  ;  on  Elijah,  ii,  189, 
n ;  on  the  locusts,  ii,  88 ;  on 
first  Resurrection,  iii,  310,  316 

Alleluia,  iii,  198,201,  203 

Amen,  iii,  201 

Andreas,  quoted,  i,  176.  n 

Angel,  the  one  sent  to  John,  i,  26  ; 
the  mighty,  of  the  sixth  trum- 
pet, ii,  124-127  ;  act  of,  ii,  128, 
129  ;  book  in  hand  of,  ii,  133- 
140;  proclnmation  of,  ii,  141- 
144;  the  Euphratean,  ii,  113, 
114 

Angels,  the  seven,  of  God's  pres- 
ence, ii,  19-21  ;  prepnre  to  sound 
the  trumpets,  ii,  39-42  ;  the  first 


sounds,  ii,  42-49  ;  the  second, 
ii,  49-53  ;  the  third,  ii,  64-58  ; 
the  fourth,  ii,  58-64 ;  the  fifth, 
ii,  75-95  ;  the  sixth,  ii,  96-122  ; 
the  seventh,  with  the  golden 
bowls  of  wrath,  iii,  67-80  ,  84- 
100 

Angels,  orders  of,  ii,  19-21  ;  min- 
istrations of,  ii,  41,  42  ;  evil,  ii, 
77  ;  iii,  279  ;  direct  executors 
of  the  woes  at  sounding  of  sixth 
trumpet,  ii,  111-114 

Angels,  of  the  churches,  i,  108-111 

Angel-joessages  of  Rev.  14  :  1-13. 
iii,  28 ;  the  first,  iii,  29,  30  ;  the 
second,  iii,  31  ;  the  third,  iii,  32, 
the  fourth,  iii,  33,  34 

Antichrist,  the,  ii.  388-390;  the 
beast  from  the  sea,  ii,  390 ;  the 
embodiment  of  political  sover- 
eignty, ii,  391,  392  ;  one  partic- 
ular man,  ii,  393,  396,  n.,  397, 
n.  ;  reigns  42  months,  ii,  394  ; 
iii,  76,  J61  ;  the  "man  of  sin," 
ii,  395  ;  the  same  as  the  wilful 
king  of  Daniel,  ii,  395  ;  a  super- 
natural personage,  ii,  397  ,  '  his 
attractiveness  and  greatness,  ii, 
401-404;  the  antagonist  of  every- 
thing divine,  ii,  405,  406;  the 
consummate  persecutor,  ii,  407; 
the  great  blasphemer,  ii,  407  ; 
the  importance  of  the  doctrine 
concerning,  ii,  408-412  ;  not 
alone,  ii,  413,  414  ;  assisted  by 
the  second  beast,  ii,  415,  428, 
431  ;  image  of,  set  up,  ii,  460; 
caused  to  speak,  ii,  452-454  ; 
worshipped,450-454;  all  branded 
with  the  mark  of,  ii,  466,  457 ; 
number  of,  ii,  459,  460  ;  plagues 

(493) 


494 


INDEX. 


visited  upon,  iii,  76  ;  church  of, 
iii,  112-125 

AnoKaXvfis,  i,  16,  17,  18,  19  ;  ii,  6, 
pref 

Apocalypse,  tJie,  some  object  to 
study  of,  vol.  i,  pref.  iii,  iv;  of 
Jesus,  meaning  of,  i,  15-20 ; 
ii,  pref.  vi,  vii  j  value  of  study 
of,  i,  33-35 ;  truth  of,  iii,  447- 
450  ;  in  relation  to  the  churches 
on  earth,  i,  66-203;  difficultiesof 
the  current  method  of  interpret- 
ing, ii,  149-152;  blessings  ac- 
companying study  of,  iii,  450- 
454,  483-486  ;  Christ's  summa- 
tion of  the  contents  of,  iii,  487- 
489 

Apocryphal  gospels,  quoted,  ii,  195 

Apollyon,  ii,  82 

Apostles,  the  twelve,  shall  sit  on 
twelve  thrones,  iii,  295 

Archangels,  the  seven,  ii,  20,  21 

Ark  of  the  covenant,  ii,  257,  258 

Armageddon,  iii,  50;  place  of,  iii, 
94 

Army  of  Satan,  iii,  252-255  ;  slay- 
ing of,  iii,  260  ;  birds  invited  to 
the  slaughter,  iii,  260 

Asia,  country  of,  i,  41 

Athanasian  creed,  quoted,  ii,  415, 
416 

Auberlen,  quoted,  i,  ?30,  n 

Augustine,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii, 
193 

Augsburg  Confession,  i,  196,  197 

Azazel,  goat  for,  ii.  114,  n 


B. 


Babylon,  the  great,  drinks  the  cup 
of  wrath,  iii,  99  ;  a  difiicult  sub- 
ject, iii,  109  ;  not  Rome  alone, 
iii,  109,  1 15  ;  the  church  of  Anti- 
christ, iii,  112;  characteristics 
of,  iii,  113-125;  connected  with 
the  primal  apostasy  after  the 
flood,  iii,  116-120;  her  twofold- 
ness,  in  mystery  and  as  a  city, 
iii,  137-139  ;  the  city  of,  shall 
be  restored,  iii,  140-142,  160- 
164  ;  prophecies  of  her  absolute 
obliteration  not  yet  fulfilled, 
143-146  ;  prophecies  which  seem 
to  require  her  restoration,  146- 
157 ;     modern    testimonies,    iii, 


154,  n.,  155,  n.,  156,  n.  ;  fall  of, 
iii,  164-166 ;  twofold,  iii,  165 ; 
heralds  the  political  regenera- 
tion of  the  earth,  iii,  205-211; 
the  people  called  out  of,  iii,  167, 
168;  calamities  visited  upon,  iii, 
168-178  ;  causes  of  this  terrible 
doom,  iii,  178-188;  sequences  of 
fall  of,  iii,  190-211;  wailing  of 
royalty,  iii,  191:  of  the  mer- 
chant?,  iii,  192;  of  other  classes, 
iii,  193,  194;  Heaven'sgladness, 
iii,  194,  195;  further  items  of 
the  joy,  iii,  198-205 

Bacon,  quoted,  i,  299 

Balaamites,  the,  i,  182;  descrip- 
tion of  error  of,  i,  193,  194 

Beast,  from  the  sea,  cf.  Antichrist 

Beast,  with  two  horns,  cf.  prophet, 
the  false;  description  of,  ii,  418- 
432 ;  the  scarlet,  iii,  125 ;  the 
seven  heads  of,  iii,  126-132; 
taking  of  the,  iii,  258.  259  ;  cast 
into  Gehenna,  iii,  280 

Beasts,  the  four,  of  Daniel,  ii,  391, 
392 

Believers,  priestly  reign  of,  i,  51- 
53;  characteristics  of,  in  all  ages, 
i,  222-226;  termination  of  earth- 
ly career  of,  i,  227-229,  and  n.  ; 
shall  reign  on  the  earth,  i.  291, 
292;  shall  judge  the  world  and 
angels,  i,  309 ;  Satan  an  exam- 
ple in  perseverance,  ii,  385 

Beveridge,  quoted,  on  Hades,  iii, 
273 

Bickersteth,   quoted,  i,  317,  n 

Black  horse,  the,  i,  332 

Blood-red  rain  and  snow,  ii,  44 

Blood  and  fire,  ii,  44,  45 

Bloody  rivers  and  springs,  plague 
of,  iii,  73 

Bloody  Sea,  plague  of  the,  iii.  71 

Book,  the,  with  seven  seals,  i,  264, 
273,  274;  no  one  able  to  open 
it,  i,  274-278  ;  the  Lamb  worthy 
to  open,  279-287;  the  same  as 
the  little  book  in  the  hands  of 
the  mighty  angel,  ii,  133-137; 
eaten  by  John,  ii,  138,  139  ; 
sweetness  and  bitterness  of,  ii, 
139,  140 

Book  of  life,  opened,  iii,  360 

Bowls,  the  seven  golden,  iii,  67-69 

Bride  of  the  Lamb,  iii,  216-222  ; 
her  preparation  for  the  marriage, 


INDEX. 


495 


iii,  222-225 ;  marriage  of,  iii, 
226-229;  marriage  vsupper  of, 
iii,  230  ;  guests  at,  iii,  232 


Candlesticks,  the  seven,  i,  71,  seq. 

Canon  of  Scriptures,  ii,  163 

Canon,  a  new,  ii,  163 

Cavalry,  the  infernal  of  the  sixth 
trumpet,  ii,  115-120 ;  the  heav- 
enly, iii,  249 

Chart,  accompanying  last  volume, 
iii,  pref.,  iv 

Cherubim,  i,  257-260 

Child,  cf.  Man  child 

Christ,  Jesus,  apocalypse  of,  i,  15- 
20  ;  in  relation  to  his  churches 
on  earth,  i,  66-203  ;  the  faithful 
witness,  i,  46  ;  testimony  given 
to  the  deity  of.  i,  48-52  ;  pres- 
ent love  of,  i,  49  ;  hath  wrought 
atonement,  i,  50-51;  coming  of, 
i,  53  60;  majesty  of,  i,  61-63; 
iii,  471-474  ;  in  the  midst  of  the 
seven  candlesticks. i,  72-71;  de- 
scription of,  in  glory,  i,  77-87  ; 
92-101;  the  angel  that  offers  the 
prayers  of  the  saints,  ii,  26-31 ; 
the  mighty  angel  of  the  sixth 
trumpet,  ii,  124-127  ;  has  in  his 
hand  the  rolls,  ii,  133-140  ;  pro- 
clamation of,  ii,  141-144;  shall 
reign,  ii,  259-262;  th9  ant^el 
who  proclaims  the  fall  of  Baby- 
lon, iii,  164,  105;  the  mighty 
conqueror,  iii,  239  247  ;  descrip- 
tion of,  iii,  242-245;  name  of, 
iii,  245;  hosts  which  follow  hitn, 
iii,  248-251;  the  armies  he  en- 
counters, iii,  252-254;  complete- 
ness of  triumph,  iii,  255-261 

Christianity  is  courteous,  i,  40  ; 
picture  of  modern,  i,  198-200  ; 
iii,  342 

Christians,  who  are  the  true,  i,  222- 
226  ;  what  becomes  of  them,  i, 
227-229 

Churches,  the  Seven,  cf.  Seven 
churches,  the 

Church,  the  visible,  under  the  im- 
ago of  a  woman,  ii,  278,  279, 
320.  369-371  ;  her  pregnancy, 
ii,  279-281;  her  royalty,  ii,  282- 
284  ;  288-290  ;    her  victory,  ii. 


285-287;  her  travail,  ii,  290; 
persecuted  by  Satan,  the  dragon, 
ii,  311-316,  371-375;  nourished 
in  the  wilderness,  ii,  378-381  ; 
the  invisible,  cf.  Man-child;  ma- 
terialism of  the  modern,  liii, 
395-397  j  as  founded,  congre- 
gational, i,  42;  meaning  of  word, 
i,  117,118;  a  mixed  society,  i, 
177-179;  the  evil  in,  growing,  i, 
180-188,  205-217  ;  last  state  of. 
i,  1 98-202;  not  synonymous  with 
Israel,  i,  405 ,  the  outlook  of 
with  respect  to  the  world,  dark, 
ii,  383  ;  dislike  to,  ii,  334 

Chrysostom,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii, 
192 

Commerce,  symbol  of,  iii,  143  ; 
methods  of,  arraigned,  iii,  179- 
183;    of  Babylon,  iii,  178 

Coming,  second,  of  Christ,  cf.  Ad- 
vent, second 

Confession,  the  true,  i,  196,  352  ; 
iii,  21 

Congregational,  the  original  gov- 
ernment of  the  church,  i,  42 

Conqueror,  the  inighty,  in  the  war 
in  heaven,  iii.  238-248  ;  comes 
out  of  heaven,  iii,  239  ;  his  horse, 
iii,  210 ;  faithful  and  true,  iii, 
240;  his  eyes,  iii,  242;  his  dia- 
dems, iii,  243;  names,  iii,  244; 
clothing,  iii,  244;  sword,  iii,  246; 
bis  title,  iii,  247;  his  followers, 
iii,  248-252  ;  armies  he  encoun- 
ters, iii,  252-255. 

Conversion,  universal,  Goebel  on, 
i,  212,  n. ;  Luther  on,  i,  214, 
and  n.  ;  Melancthon  on,  i,  214 

Covetousness,  iii,  184;  of  Babylon, 
184-186 


D. 


Darkening  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 

st.'iTS,  ii,  58-62 
Darkness,  plague  of,  iii,  77-79 
Day  of  the  Lord,  the,  i,  20-22  ;  ii, 

150;   iii.  238-262 
Dead,    judgment  of,   ii,  265,  266  ; 

blessed,  who  die  in  the  Lord,  iii, 

34,  35 
Death,  keys  of,    i,    98-100;  shall 

not  come  upon  all.  i,  168,  301  ; 

the   rider   of   the  pale  horse,  i, 

336-838 ;    no   conversion    after. 


89 


496 


INDEX. 


iii,   80 ;    the   second,    iii,    363  ; 
banished  from  heaven,  iii,  385 

Demons,  nature  of,  ii,  98-100 ; 
worship  of,  ii,  101.  102,  doc- 
trines of,  ii,  102,  n 

Devil,  cf.  Satan 

Dishonesty,  ii,  107 

Dragon,  the  red,  ii,    292-316  j   the 
devil,    ii,    295;    tail  of,   ii,  298- 
301 ,  head  and  horns  of,  ii,  302- 
305  ;  color  of,  ii,  306  ,  greatness 
of,  ii,   307;    daring  of,  ii,   3U9 
attitude  towards  the  church  o: 
God,    ii,    311-316;    fighting  Mi 
chitel,  ii,  351,352;  cause  of  con 
flict,  ii,  353-355;  method  of  war 
fare,    ii,    357-359  ;  is   defeated 
ii,  360-364;  cast  out  of  heaven 
ii,  367-369 ;   persecutes   the  wo 
man,  ii,  373-375,  379-382 


£. 


Eagle,  an,  makes  the  proclamation 
of  woe,  ii,  67  ;  what  is  meant  by, 
ii,  67-75 ;  testimonies,  ii,  69,  n 

Earth,  changes  in  the  surface  of,  i, 
389;  iii,  99,  100,  373;  a  third 
of  the,  to  be  burned,  ii,  45  ;  per- 
petuity of,  iii,  368,  369  ;  pass- 
ing away  of,  iii,  371  ;  not  to  be 
utterly  destroyed,  iii,  374-377  ; 
the  new,  iii,  379 

Earthquakes,  i,  380-381  ;  iii,  97 

Eisjht,  the  number,  i,  135 

Elders,  the  twenty-four,  i,  248-254; 
ii,  253-255  ;  worship  the  Lamb, 
i,  289 

Elijah,  tbeTishbite,  one  of  the  two 
witnesses,  180,  183-194,  199-201; 
prophecies  concerning,  ii,  183- 
191;  224-228;  testimony  con- 
cerning, 185,  n.,  191-194,  197.n.  ; 
shall  restore  all  things,  ii,  225, 
228,  229 

Elliott,  on  genuineness  of  Rev.,  i, 
31.  n 

End  of  the  world,  iii,  238-262, 
366-377 

Enoch,  one  of  the  two  witnesses, 
ii,  180.  194-198,  207  ;  the  pro- 
phet of  the  Gentiles,  ii.  229,  230 

Enoch,  prophecy  of,  i,  299  ;  book 
of,  quoted,  ii,  20,  n 

Ephah,  the,  of  Zechariah's  vision, 
iii,  143,  144 


Ephesus,  church  at,  i,  12t)-.122 
156,  157,  181 

Epistles,  the  seven,  to  the  church- 
es, cf.,  seven  epistles,  the 

Euphrates,  the  river,  dried  up,  iii, 
84-87;    angels  of,  ii,  113,   114 

Evil,  in  the  church,  growing,  i, 
180-188  ;  culminating  in  the  last 
days,  i,  211-217 

EzeRiel,  vision  of,  i,  257-260 


F. 


Famine   and   the   black   horse,   i, 

332-335 
Fire,    coming  down  from  heaven, 

ii,  445-447 
First  and  last,  Christ  the,  i,  92-94 
Five,  the  number,  i,  133 
Forgiveness,   hath  been    wrought, 

i,  50,  51 
Forty- two,  the  iijimber,  ii,  172 
Forty-two    months,    the,    ii,    171, 

172,  394 
Four,  the  number,  i.  132 
Four  living   ones,    the,  cf.  living 

ones 
Fulfilment  of  prophecy,  i,  106,  107 


Gehenna,  iii,  280 

Gentiles,  shall  be  rejected,  ii,  166- 
172;  shall  trample  down  the 
holy  city  forty-two  months,  ii, 
168-172 

Genuineness  of  book  of  Revela- 
tion, i,  30,  n.,  31,  n 

Goebel,  John  Conrad,  sermons  on 
Augs.  Conf ,   quoted,  i,  212,  n 

Government  of  the  world,  changed, 
ii,  259-262 

Grace,  sources  of,  i,  43-47 


Hades,  keys  of,  i,  98-100,cf.  Abyss; 
definition  of,  i,  338;  to  be  de- 
stroyed, i,  358  ;  nature  of,  i, 
359,  n.,  360,  n.  ;  place  of,  ii.  93, 
n.,  398;  full  discussion  of,  iii, 
271-282;  Ch'-ist's  descent  into, 
iii,  274 


INDEX. 


497 


Hnil.  creat.  falls  during  the  sev- 
euiili   plague,  iii,  101,  102 

Harlot,  the  great,  the  church  of 
Antichrist,"  iii,  112;  character- 
istics of,  iii,   113-125 

Harmapjefldon,  cf.  Armageddon 

Harp  singers,  the,  stuading  by  the 
glassy  sea,  iii,  64 

Harris,  Dr.,  quoted,  i,  317,  n 

Harvest,  the  vision  of  the,  iii,  37, 
38;  of  woe  and  judgg:ient,  iii,  39; 
particuliirs  of  the  description  of, 
iii,  41-43 ;  the  sending  forth  of 
the  sharp  sickle,  iii,  44,  45;  the 
reaping  of,  iii,  46  ;  and  the  vint* 
age,  iii,  46-58 

Heaven,  first  vision  of  John  in,  i, 
235.  et  seq.  ;  signs  in  the.  i,  388, 
389 1  silence  in,  ii,  15-19;  tem- 
ple of  God  in,  ii.  255,  256  ;  trans- 
ports in,  at  fall  of  Babylon,  iii, 
198-205;  war  in,  iii,  238-2^2; 
sublime  hero  of  war  in.  iii,  288- 
247  ;  the  new,  iii.  878,  399-402  ; 
blessedness  of,  iii,  384-388  ;  oc- 
cupants and  possessors  of,  iii, 
389-393  ;  location  of,  iii,  404 ; 
splendor  of,  iii,  405-408  ;  ampli- 
tude of,  iii,  408,  409  ;  how  illu- 
minated, iii,  411,  412;  no  tem- 
ple in.  iii,  413,  4l4  ;  holiness  of, 
iii,  417-419.  432-435;  glorious 
throne  in,  iii,  436-438  ;  condi- 
tion of  things  in,  iii,  438-443  ; 
men's  false  ideas  of,  iii,  339,340 

H  il,  cf.  Hades,  Abyss,  not  a  mere 
fiction,  ii,  93-95;  place  of,  ii, 
93.  n  ;  no  conversion  in,  iii,  80  ; 
full  discussion  of  doctrine  con- 
cerning, iii,  271-282 

Ht^ngstenberg,  quoted,  on  Elijah, 
ii.  185,  n 

Hippolytus,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii, 
192 

Holiness,  of  the  saints,  iii,  334- 
3  {7 

Horns  of  the  altar,  cry  out  of,  ii, 
109;  two,  of  second  beast,  ii, 
425.  427  ;  of  the  Dragon,  ii,  302- 
305  ;   of  Lamb,  i,  283 

Horse,  the  white,  i,  310-315  ;  con- 
quest and  triumph  set  forth  by, 
i,  315-320  ;  iii.  240  ;  the  red.  i, 
328-331  ;  the  black,  i,  332-335; 
the  pale  green,  i,  3-^6-339 

Horses,    signification   of,    in    pro- 


phetic vision,  i,  313,  327;  the 
infernal  of  the  sixth  trumpet,  ii, 
115-118 ;  the  white,  on  which 
the  armies  of  heaven  are  mount- 
ed, iii,  249 


I. 


Idolatry,  revival  of,  at  sounding 
of  sixth  trumpet,  ii,  103-105 

Impenitent,  warning  to  the,  iii, 
103-106 

Intermediate  state,  the,  i,  355- 
3t)4,  377,  n  ;  iii.    277,   n,  279 

Irenaeus,    quoted,  i,  367,  n 

Irving,  quoted,  i.  230,  n.,  238,  n., 
265,  266 

Israel,  children  of,  to  be  taken  lit- 
erally, i,  404-406;  the  144,000 
sealed  ones,  i,  408-412 


Jerome,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii,  193 

Jerusalem,  to'  be  repopulated,  ii, 
161  ;  temple  of,  rebuilt,  ii,  161  ; 
ancient  worship  of.  restored,  ii, 
161  ;  measuring  of.  by  the  saints, 
157-166;  trampled  under  foot  by 
the  Gentiles,  ii,  168-172;  the 
centre  of  the  events  at  the  last 
day,  ii,  375  ;  topography  of, 
changed,  iii,  97,  98 ;  the  new, 
iii,  383,  384,  399-402  ;  its  deri- 
vation,  iii,  403  ;  its  location,  iii, 
404;  its  splendor,  iii,  405-408; 
its  amplitude,  iii,  408-409  ;  its 
system  of  illumination,  iii,  411, 
412;  its  lack  of  a  temple,  iii, 
413.  414;  its  relation  to  the 
world  at  large,  iii,  415,  416  ;  its 
superlative  holiness,  iii,  417- 
419 

Jesus,  cf.  Christ. 

Jews,  to  compose  the  144,000 
sealed  ones,  i,  408-412  ;  ii,  382  ; 
iii.  16-28  ;  to  be  restored  to  their 
privileges,  ii,  166-172 

Jezebel,  the  type  of  Papacy,  i,  194 
-198 

John,  the  Apostle,  the  writer  of 
Revelation,  i.  28-31  ;  salutation 
of,  to  seven  Churches,  i.  40-47; 
vi.sion  of,  i.  67-90  ;  first  vi-sion 
of,   in  heaven,  1,  235,  et  seq. ; 


498 


INDEX. 


eats  the  book,  ii,  138-141 ;  ef- 
fect of  revelations  on,  iii,  455- 
457  ;  directed  what  to  do  with 
the  revelations,  iii,  458,  463 

Jiidas  Iscariot,  is  he  the  false 
prophet,  ii,  422-424 

Judgment,  the  opening  of  the  seals, 
scenes  of,  i,  305,  321;  not  a  sin- 
,  gle  act,  i,  306  ;  prtf,  iii,  5  ;  day 
of,  i,  322;  upon  unbelievers,  iii, 
80,  81;  of  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  i,  322-327  ;  of  hail,  and 
fire,  and  blood,  ii,  43-48  ;  of  the 
infernal  cavalry,  ii,  115-120, 
folly  of  waiting  for,  to  bring  to 
a  better  life,  ii,  121,  122;  begins 
at  the  house  of  God,  ii,  167-166; 
times  of,  ii,  216  ;  iii,  161  ;  of  the 
dead,  ii,  265  ,-  harvest  of,  iii,  37 
-46;  vintage  of,  iii,  46-58;  the 
final,  iii,  359,  361-365;  given 
according  to  works,  iii,  361  ; 
sentence  followed  with  immedi- 
ate execution,  iii,  361 

Justin  Martyr,  quoted,  on  Elijah, 
ii,  191 


Keys  of  death  and  Hades,  i,  98- 

100 
King,  quoted,  on  Hades,  ii,  93,  n 
Kingdom,  a,  given  to  believers,  i, 
61-53 ;  prayer   for   its  coming, 
iii.  206  :  the  desideratum  of  the 


race,  iii, 


L. 


Lacunza,  Emanuel,  quoted,  i,  23, 

n 
Lfimb,  the,  glory  of,  i,  280-287; 
seven  horns  of,  i,  283 ;  seven 
eyes  of,  i,  284  ;  taketh  the  book 
with  seven  seals,  i.  286,  287  ; 
marriage  of,  iii,  213-236 ;  the 
bridegroom,  iii,  215;  the  bride 
of,  iii,  216-225;  marriage  sup- 
per of  iii,  230-233 
Laodicea,  church  at,  i,   127,   163, 

185 
Laugh,  the,  of  God,  iii,  255-257 
Laziirus  and  rich  man,  i,  358 
Living  One,  Christ  the,  i,  94,  95 
Living  ones,  the  four,  i,  254-261  ; 
iii.  67 


Locusts,  from  the  Abyss,  ii,  81 ; 
thoir  form,  ii,  81 ;  have  intelli- 
gence, ii,  82  J  their  king,  Abad- 
don, ii,  82 ;  duration  of  this 
plague,  ii,  83 ;  not  symbolic,  ii, 
84  ;  what  they  are,  ii,  85-93 

Lord's  day,  the,  i,  20-22,  70 

Love,  free,  ii,  107 

Luther,  quoted,  on  Elijah  and 
Enoch,  ii,  197,  n;  on  the  gath- 
ering of  the  eagles,  ii,  70,  n 

Lutherans,*  not  the  locusts,  ii,  86 


Man,  perpetuity  of  the  race  of,  on 
the  earth,  iii,  368-377 

Man-child,  the,  conflicting  theo- 
ries concerning,  ii,  317-319  , 
landmarks  of  interpretation,  ii, 
319-322,  the  invisible  Church, 
ii,  325 ;  will  shepherdize  all  na- 
tions, ii,  327-329 ;  persecuted 
by  Satan,  ii,  330,  331  ;  meaning 
of  birth  of,  ii,  331-341 ;  shall 
shapherdize  with  a  rod  of  iron, 
iii,  295 

M un  of  sin,  ii,  395,  396,  and  n, 
401 

Man- worship,  ii.  404,  406,  431-435 

Mark  of  Antichrist,  ii,  458,  457 

Marriage  of  the  Lamb,  iii,  213- 
236  ;   cf.  Lamb 

Martyrs,  the  souls  of  the,  under 
fifth  seal,  i,  349;  the  cause  of 
their  martyrdom,  i,  350-354  ; 
their  estate,  i,  354-366;  their 
cry,  i,  367-369  ;  the  answer  they 
receive,  i,  369-375  ,  special  no- 
tice of,  iii,  303,  304 

Martyrdom  of  the  saints,  the  fifth 
seal,  a  picture  of,  i,  350-376 

M:iterialismof  the  modern  Church, 
iii,  395-397 

Measuring,  a  judicial  act,  ii,  157; 
of  the  temple,  the  altar,  the 
worshippers,  ii,   157-166 

Mede.  Joseph,  quoted,  on  the  sev- 
en Churches,  i,  175.  176,  and  n  ; 
on  the  comin>j^  of  Elijah,  ii,  225 

Michael,  ii,  78  ;  and  his  angels, 
fighting  the  dragon,  ii,  347-352  ; 
the  archangel,  ii,  347-349  ;  Jew- 
ish teachings,  ii.  350  ;  fighting 
for  the  body  of  Moses,  ii,  354 


INDEX. 


499 


Millennium,  false  doctrine  con-  ) 
cerning,  iii,  342-344  ;  scriptural 
teachings,  iii,  344-350  ;  a  psriod 
of  a  1000  years,  iii,  344  ;  begins 
only  at  end  of  this  present  world, 
iii,  345 ;  brings  with  it  an  alto- 
gether different  dispensation,  iii, 
346  :  condition  of  man  and  the 
earth  vastly  improved,  iii,  348, 
349 ;  ending  of  it  not  the  end 
of  the  happiness  it  introduces, 
iii,  350  ;  followed  by  the  loosing 
of  Satan,  iii,  351-354 

Milton,   Paradise  Lost,   quoted,  i, 
257,  n ;  ii,  344,  356,  364.   369 

Moon,  signs  in  the,  i,  384,  385 

Morals,    state    of,   at   sounding  of 
sixth  trumpet,  ii,  105-108 

Moses,  conteatioa  for  the  body  of, 
ii,  354,  355 

Murder,  ii,  105 


Nioolaitanes,  the,  i,  169,  181.  182  ; 
error  of,  described,  i,  190-192 

Nimrod  and  his  idolatrous  inven- 
tions, iii,  116-120 

Number  of  the  beast,  ii,  459,  460 

Numbers,  the  meaning  of,  130-137 


0. 


Olshausen,  quoted,  on  Antichrist, 

ii,  396,  n 
One.  the  number,  i,  130 
144,000,  who  they  are,  i,  404,  sq  ; 

iii,    16-20,     characteristics    of, 

iii,  21,  22;   their  reward,  iii,  23 

-27 
Origen,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii,  192 


Pain,  banished  from  heaven,    iii, 

387 
Palm-bearers,  the,  who   they  are 

not,  i,  433-440  ;  who  they  are, 

i,  441-446;   their  blessedness,  i, 

447-454 
Papacy.  Jezebel,  the   type    of.    i, 

194-198;  not  the  whole  of  the 

great  harlot,  iii.  114,  123,   124, 

sq 


Paradise,    i,    360.    361  j    iii,    273 

278,  279 
Patmos,  isle  of,  i,  68 

Pearson,   quoted,   on    Christ's    de- 
scent into  Hades,   iii,  276,  n 
Pergamos,  church  at,  i,  124,  159 

Persecution,  the  fifth  seal,  picture 
of.  i,  349 

Pessimism,  iii.   196,  197 

Philadelphia,  church  at,  i,  126, 
163 

Pietism,  i.  179 

Plagues,  the  seven  last,  iii,  63  ; 
heavenly  economy  of,  iii,  66— 
68 ;  current  interpretation  of, 
iii,  69,  70  ;  the  first  of  the,  ii», 
70  i  the  second,  iii.  71  ;  the 
third,  iii,  73;  the  fourth,  iii, 
74,  75  J  the  fifth,  iii,  76-80  ;  the 
sixth,  iii,  84-94;  the  seventh, 
iii,  95-102 

Planchette,  ii,  104 

Political  regeneration  of  the  earth, 
at  the  fall  of  Babylon,  iii,  205- 
211 

Polycarp,  i,  158 

Popery,  cf.  Papacy 

Praj^er,  power  of  ii,  33 

Prayers  of  the  saints,  i,  289,  290  ; 
ii,  29-31 

Preaching,  now  the  work  of  men, 
iii,  29 

Proclamation  of  the  mighty  angel, 
ii,  141-144 

Prophecy,  value  of  the  study  of,  i, 
36-38;  nature  of  the  fulfilment 
of,  i,  106  ;  definition  of,  ii,  154, 
155  ;  to  be  heard  again  on  earth, 
ii,  154 

Prophet,  the  false,  one  of  the  dia- 
bolical trinity,  ii,  417;  the  beast 
with  two  horns,  ii,  418-424  ;  an 
individual  person,  ii,  420,  421  ; 
comes  out  of  the  earth,  ii,  422  ; 
probably  Judas  Iscariot,  ii,  423, 
424  ;  two  horns  of,  denote  natu- 
ralism and  supernaturalism,  ii, 
426-428  ;  his  dragon  speech,  ii, 
427  ;  at  one  with  Antichrist,  ii, 
428 ;  his  power,  ii,  429,  430  ; 
causes  "  the  earth  "  to  worship 
Antichrist,  ii,  431  ;  this  weird 
account,  literally  probable,  ii, 
432-436;  the  condition  of  things 
when  he  comes,  ii,  438,  440  ; 
how  he  imposes   on   the  world, 


500 


INDEX. 


ii,  441,  442,  448,  449  ,•  miracles 
of,  ii,  443,  444  ;  causes  fire  to 
oome  down  from  heaven,  ii,  445  ; 
suggests  that  an  image  of  the 
beast  be  made,  ii,  450  ;  causes 
this  image  to  speak,  ii,  452-454, 
brands  all  with  the  mark  of  An- 
tichrist, ii,  456,  457  ;  taking  of 
the,  iii,  259;  cast  into  Gehenna, 
iii,  280,  281  ;  time  of  this  im- 
prisonment, iii,  283-289 
Punishment,  grades  of,  iii,  361- 
365 


R. 


Race,  perpetuity  and  redemption 
of  our,  iii,  368-377  ;  the  ongo- 
ing redeemed,  iii,  391 

Rainbow,  around  the  throne,  i, 
244,  245 

Red  horse,  the.  i,  328-331 

Redemption,  true  conception  of,  i, 
267-270 

Reformation,  the  great,  i,  196,  197, 
Confessions  of,  i,  pref.  4,  19  7 

Regeneration  of  the  heavens  and 
earth,  iii,   378-383 

Rest,  iii,  34,  35 

Resurrection,  the  first,  i,  227-231, 
234,  250,  301;  iii,  310-315;  suc- 
cessive stages  of,  ii,  332-338, 
339,  n;  iii,  321-324;  of  saints 
only,  iii,  318-320  ;  as  a  whole 
nowhere  pictorially  described, 
iii,  324-326  ;  completion  intro- 
duces a  wonderful  change  in  the 
earth's  history,  iii,  327-332  ; 
promotes  the  subjects  of  it  to 
glory,  iii,  332-336  ;  to  exalted 
place  and  occupation,  iii,  337- 
340  ,  the  final,  iii,  358-361 

R'^velation,  hook  of,  some  object  to 
study  of,  pref.,  iii,  iv  ;  ii,  37  ; 
revised  text  of,  pref.,  v,  vi  ;  sub- 
ject and  contents  of,  i,  15-23, 
66  ;  derivation  and  .authorship 
of,  i,  23-31  ;  value  of,  i,  31-35; 
most  wonderful  of  sacred  books, 
ii,  271  5  genuineness  of,  i,  30,  n, 
31,  n  ;  key  to  the  analysis  of,  i, 
102-108  i  second  grand  division 
of,  i,  204  ;  must  be  literally  un- 
derstood, ii,  25,  46-49,  6V53  ; 
ii.  273  ;  last  section  of,  iii,  446; 
certainty  of  things  contained  in, 


iii,  447  450  ;  blessings  accom- 
panying study  of,  iii,  451-454, 
483-486  ;  Christ's  summation  of 
the  contents  of,  iii,  487-489. 
Rev.  1  :  1-3,  i,  13-38  ;  1  :  4-8,  i, 
39-64  ;  1  :  9-17,  i,  65-90  ;  1  :  17 
-20,  i,  91-115  ;  1  :  20.  i,  117- 
145  ;  2  :  1  :-3:  21,  i,  146-173  ; 
3  .  22,  i,  174-203  ;  4  .  J,  i,  204- 
232  ;  4  :  1-11.  i,  233-262  ;  5  •  I 
-!4,  i,  263-292  ;  6  :  1-2,  i,  293- 
320  ;  6  :  3-8,  i,  321-344  ;  6  :  9- 
11,  i,  345-376  ;  6  :  12-17,  i,  377 
-401  ;  7  :  1-8,  i,  402-428  ;  7  9 
-17,  i,  429-454  ;  8  ;  1-5,  ii,  13- 
37  ,  8  :  6-12,  ii,  38-64  ;  8  :  13, 
9  :  12,  ii,  65-95  ;  9  ;  13-21,  ii, 
98-122  ;   10  :  1-11,  ii,  123-148  ; 

11  :  1,  2,  ii,  149-172  ;  11  ;  3,  4, 
ii,  173-208  ;  11  ;  5-14,  ii,  209- 
246  ;    11  :  15-19.    ii,     247-270  ; 

12  :  1,  2,  ii,  271-292  ;  12  :  3,  4, 
ii,  293-316;  12  :  5,  ii,  317-341; 
12  ;  6-12,  ii,  343-365  ;  12  :  12- 
17.  ii,  366-386  ,  13  :  1-10,  ii, 
387-412  ;  13  :  11,  12,  ii,  413- 
436  ;  13  :  13-18,  ii,  437^60  ; 
14  :  1-13,  iii,  13-35,  14:  14-16, 
iii,  36-58  ;  15  ;  1-8,  iii,  59-82  ; 
16  :  1-11,  iii,  69-82  ,  16  :  12-21, 
iii,  83-106;  17  :  1-17,  iii,  107- 
132  ;  17  •  18,  iii,  133-158  ;  18  ; 
1-8,  iii,  159-188  ;  18  :  9-24,  iii, 
189-212  ;  19  :  1-6,  iii,  189-212  ; 

19  :  7-10,  iii,  213-236  ;  19  :  11- 
21.  iii,  237-262  ;  20  :  1-3,  iii, 
263-289  ;  20  ;  4-5,  iii,  290-315; 

20  :  6,  iii,  316-340  ,  20  :  7-15, 
iii,  342-366  ,  21  :  1-8,  iii,  367- 
393  ;  21  :  9-27,  iii,  394-419  ; 
22  :  1-5,  iii,  420-444;  22  :6-]5, 
iii,  445-469  ;  22  :  16-21.  iii,  470 
-492 

Rich  man  and  Lazarus,  i,  358 
Righteousness,    two    kinds   of,  iii, 

224  ;   in  all  things  enforced  with 

iron  rod,  iii,  327-332 
River,  the  wonderful,  iii,   422-426 
Rivers,  plague  of  bloody,  iii,  73 
Roll,  cf  Book 
Romanism,  Christ's  judgment  of, 

i.  192-196 


s. 


Saiabe,  cf.  Believers,  prayers  of,  i 


INDEX. 


501 


289,  290  ;  ii,  29-31  ;  likened  to 
eagles,  ii,  68-73  ;  will  prophesy 
again,  ii,  155  ;  different  orders 
of.  i,  443  ;  iii,  217  ;  shall  judge 
the  world,  ii,  156,  157  ;  persecu- 
tions of,  iii,  123;  avenging  of, 
195-197  ;  vision  of  enthroned, 
iii,  295-302  ;  holiness  of,  224, 
334-337;  shall  judge  and  reign, 
iii,  337-340 

Salutation  of  John,  to  seven 
Churches,  i,  41 ;  substance  of, 
i,  42-47 

Sardis,  Church  at,  i,  125,  126,  161, 
162 

Satan,  the  fallen  star,  ii,  76-78  ; 
receives  the  key  of  the  Abyss, 
ii,  79,  80  ;  opens  the  Abyss,  ii, 
80,  81  ;  the  red  dragon,  ii,  293- 
316  (cf.  Dragon)  ;  existence  of. 
ii  296,  297  ;  persecutes  the 
Church,  ii,  311-316,  330,  331  , 
his  fighting  against  Michael,  ii, 
351,  352  ;  his  method  of  war- 
fare, ii,  356-359  ;  defeated,  ii, 
360-364  ;  cast  out  of  heaven,  ii, 
366,  367  ;  worship  of,  organized, 
ii,  454  ;  armies  of,  in  the  war  in 
heaven,  iii,  252-255  ;  binding 
of,  iii,  263,  268  ;  four  names  of. 
iii',  264-266  ;  cast  into  the  Abyss, 
iii,  270  ;  loosed  after  the  millen 
nium,  iii,  351  ;  not  bound  now,  j 
iii,  285-289  ;  seduces  Gog  and  ' 
Magog  into  rebellion,  iii,  352  ; 
meets  his  final  perdition,  iii, 
355 

Sea,  the,  turned  into  blood,  ii,  50; 
iii,  71 

Sea,  the  glassy,  i,  247  ;  iii,  63-66, 
the  new,  iii,  380-383 

Sealing  of  the  144,000,  subject  of 
the,  i,  403-412  ;  nature  of  the, 
i,  413-420  ;  efi'ects  of.  i,  421- 
428,  cf  144,000 

Seals,  the    seven,    i,  272  ;    signifi- 
cance of  opening  of,  i,  300,  time 
covered   by.    i,    301,     303-305  , 
opening  of  the  first,  i,  307-320  ; 
the  second,  i,  328-331 ;  the  third, 
i,  332-335  ;    the   fourth,  i,  336- 
344  ;    the  fifth,  i,  345-376  ;    the  j 
sixth,    i,    377-454 ;    first   vision  i 
under,  i,  377-401  ;  second  vision  j 
under,  i,  402-4-8  ;    ti;ird  visi.m  j 
under,  i,  430-454  ;  the  seventh,  I 


ii,    14,  ff.  ;    includes   the    seven 

trumpets  and  the  seven  vials,  ii, 

14 
Second  advent,  cf.  Advent,  second 
Self-glorification,  iii,  186-188 
Selnecker,    on   first    resurrection, 

iii,  321 
Seven  candlesticks,  the,  i,  71,  72, 

105,  112 
Seven    Churches,    the.    i,  41.  105, 

112,  117-145  ;  significance  of,  i, 

128,  129,  137-139,142,  175,176; 

typical    of  Christianity,  i,  142- 

145,  174-203  ;  the  seven  epistles 

to,  i,  149-203 
Seven  epistles, the, to  the  Churches, 

importance  of,  i,  149  ;  teachings 

of,  i.  149-203 
Seven,  the   number,    i,    134,  135; 

ii,  131 
Seven   spirits   of  God,  the,    i,  45, 

246 
Seven  seals,  cf.  Seals 
Seven    last   plagues,    iii,   62  ;    cf. 

Plagues. 
Seven   priest-angels,    the,  iii,  67  j 

cf.  Angels 
Seven   stars,    the,  i,    82,    83,  105, 

110 
Seven  thunders,  the,  ii,  130-133 
Sheol,  cf.  Abyss,  not   the  place  of 

final  punishment,  iii,  272 
Shepberdizers,  the.    iii,    294-296 ; 

their  thrones,  iii,  297-299;  their 

judging,  power   and  reign,  300- 

302 
Shepherdizing  of   the  nations,  iii, 

293-296 
Sickle  sent    forth,  in    the   harvest 

of  judgment,  iii,  44-46  ;    in  the 

vintage  of  judgment,  iii,  49-51 
Sign,  the  great,  in  the  heaven,  the 

marvellous  woman,  ii,  272-274; 

the  red  dragon,  ii,  293-315  ;  the 

third,  iii,  62 
Siience  in  heaven,  signification  of, 

ii,  15-19 
Sin,  the  man   of,  ii,  395.  396,  and 

n,  401 
Six,  the  number,  i,  133 
Sleep  of  the  soul,  i,  360-363 
Smyrna,    church    at,    i,    122-124, 

]b7,  158 
Society,    state   of,    at   opening   of 

sixth  soiil.i,  390-400  ;  at  .'mound- 
ing of  sixth  trumpet,  ii,  97-108; 


502 


INDEX. 


compared  with  former  times,  ii, 

108,  n 
Soroeries,  ii,  105,  106  ;   of  Baby- 
lon, iii,  184 
Sores,  plague  of,  iii,  71 
Sorrows,    banished   from   heaven, 

iii,  386 
Souls  of  the  martyrs,  the,  i,  365- 

369  ;  cf.  Martyrs 
Souls,  discussion  of  the  word,  iii, 

305-309  ;   resurrection    of,  309- 

315 
Soul's  sleep,  the,  i,  360-363 
Spirit,  in   the,  on  the  Lord's  day, 

critical  discussion,  i,  22,  and  n, 

70 
Spirits,  the  three  unclean,  iii,  87; 

the    enthusiasm   they    awaken. 

iii,    88-90  ;  place   of  departed, 

iii,  276 
Spiritualism,   modern,  ii,  101,  102 
Stars,  falling  of,  i,  385-388 
Star,  the  great,  called  Wormwood, 

ii,  55-57 
Star,  the  fallen,  Satan,  ii,  76-80 
Stars,  the  seven,  cf.  Seven  stars 
Stier,  quoted,  on  Elijah,  ii,  188 
Stoughton,    Dr.,    quoted,    i,    206, 

208,  209,  221 
Stuart,  on  genuineness  of  Rev.,  i, 

30,  n  ;  on  the  fifth  seal,  i,  346 
Sun.  darkening  of,  i,  382,  383  ;  ii, 

58-61 ;    plague    of  intense  heat 

of,  iii,  74 
Supernaturalism,  ii,  213-216 
Symbolic  interpretation,  errors  of, 

ii,  60,  61  ;  iii,  487 


Tartarus,  iii,  279 

Tears,  banished  from  heaven,  iii, 
384 

Temple,  of  Jerusalem,  to  be  re- 
built, ii,  161-165  ;  to  be  me:is- 
ured,  ii,  162-166  ;  outer  court 
of,  rejected,  ii,  165  ;  of  God,  in 
heaven,  ii,  255-257 

Ten,  the  number,  i,  136 

Ten  virgins,  parable  of  the,  iii, 
218,  219 

Teitullian,  quoted,  i,  367,  n;  on 
Elijah  and  Enoch,  ii,  195 

Text  of  Apocalypse,  i,  pref.  5 

Thenphylact,  quoted,  on  Elijah, 
ii,  193 


Three,  the  number,  i,  131 

Three  and  a  half  years,  the,  ii,  171, 

172 
Throne  of  God,  i,  242-248;  iii,  355 
Thunders,  the  seven,  ii,  130-133 
Thyatira,  church  at,  i,  125,  160 
Time,  course  of,  iii,  pref.  iv-vii 
Times,  the,  corruptions  of,  i,  219 
Tophet,  iii,  279 

Tree,  the  wonderful,  iii,  427-431 
Trench,  quoted,  on    "The    Living 
One,"    1,    94,    n,  98,  n,   102,  n, 
139,  n 
Trinity,  the  Holy,  ii,  415,  416 
Trinity,    the    diabolical,    ii,   415  ; 
persons  of,    ii,  417;    sends  forth 
three  unclean  spirits,  iii,  88 
Trumpets,    the   seven,    ii,    22-25 ; 
sounding  of  the  Jirst,   ii,   42-48  ; 
the  second,  ii,  49-53  ;   the  third, 
ii,  54-57  ;  the  fourth,  ii,  58-62  ; 
woes  of,  to  be  literally  interpret- 
ed,   ii,   46-49  ;    sounding  of  the 
Jj./th,  ii,  75-95  ;  the  sixth,  ii,  96- 
122,    124-148  ;     nature    of    this 
judgment,    ii,    109-122  ;  cry  is- 
sues  out   of  four  horns   of  the 
altar,  ii,  109;   angels  are  execu- 
tors of  the  woe,  ii,  111-114  ;   in- 
fernal cavalry  overrun  the  earth, 
ii,      115-118;       continuance    of 
plague,  ii,  119  ;  object  of,  ii,  120, 
121  ;  woes  of,  continued,  ii,  124- 
148 ;    the   seveiith   and   last,    ii, 
247-249  ;  includes  the  history  to 
the  end,  ii,249  ;  symptoms  whicL 
attend,  ii,  250-258;  items  which 
are  embraced,  ii,  259-270;  reign 
of  Christ,   ii,   259-262;    destruc- 
tion of  the  wicked,  ii,  263.  264  ; 
judgment   of  the  dead,  ii,  265, 
266  ;  the   faithful    rewarded,  ii, 
266,   269 ;    translations   and    re- 
surrections    accompanying,    ii, 
332-340 
Twelve,  the  number,  i,  136 
Twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  i.  256,  406 
Two,  the  number,  i,  131 
Two  witnesses,  the,  cf.  Witnesses 


Victorinus  on  significance  of  seven 

Churches,  i,  128,  and  n,  12S 
Vintage  of  the  judgment,  iii,  46  ; 


INDEX. 


503 


sending  forth  of  the  sharp  sickle, 
iii,  48,  49  ;  giithering  of  the  vine 
of  the  earth,  iii,  49-51;  treading 
of  the  wine-press,  iii,  52-54  ;  the 
blood  of  the,  iii,  55,  56 

Vision,  of  John,  in  Patmos,  cir- 
cumstances of,  i,  67,  fif ;  sur- 
roundings of  first,  in  heaven,  i, 
235-241  ;  particulars  of,  i,  241- 
262,  264-289  ,•  of  the  harvest  of 
judgment,  iii,  37-45;  of  the  vin- 
tage of  judgment,  iii,  46-58  ;  of 
the  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire, 
iii,  63-66 

Vitriuga,  quoted,  i,  176,  n 

W. 

War  in  heaven,  ii,  343-346  ;  the 
forces  marshalled,  ii,  347-352  , 
the  occasion  of  the  conflict,  ii, 
353-365  ;  the  nnture  of  the  but 
tie,  ii,  356-359 ;  the  issue,  ii, 
360-365 

Warning,  note  of,  during  sixth 
plague,  iii,  91-94;  to  the  impen- 
itent, iii,  103-106 

Washing  of  robes,  iii,  464-468 

Weemse,  quoted,  i,  273,  n 

White  horse,  the,  i,  310-315  ;  one 
on  which  Christ  rides,  iii,  240  ; 
compare,  iii,  249,  ff 

Wicked,  resurrection  and  judg- 
ment of  the,  ii,  263,  264  ;  iii, 
355,  sq. ;  no  restoration  of  the, 
iii,  80,  81 

Wine-press,  the  treading  of,  iii,  52- 
54;  the  blood  of  the,  iii,  55-57 

Witnesses,  the  two,  ii,  171-177  ; 
are  persons,  ii,  175  ;  prophecy, 
ii,  176  ;  who  they  are,  ii,  178- 
190  ;  testimony  concerning,  ii, 
191-198;  the  judgment  prophets, 
ii,  199  ;  mission  of,  ii,  199-208  ; 


their  times  not  Gospel  times,  ii, 
211,  212  ;  very  evil  timts,  ii, 
213;  of  intense  supernaturalism. 
ii,  214-215;  of  judgment,  ii,  2 16; 
deeds  of,  ii,  217-222;  inflict 
great  plagues,  ii,  220-223  ;  the 
two  olive  trees  of  Zechariah,  ii, 
223  ;  the  great  preachers  of  the 
last  times,  ii,  224-232  ;  work  of, 
merciful,  ii,  231;  end  of,  ii,  233, 
234 ;  bodies  unburied,  ii,  234- 
236  ;  resurrection  of,  ii,  237,  238  ; 
ascension  of,  ii,  239,  240  ;  events 
accompanying,  ii,  240-244  ;  tes- 
timony of  fathers  concerning,  ii, 
245,  246 
Woe  and  judgment,  vintage  of,  iii, 

46-58 
Woe,  the  last,  iii,  61 
Woes  of  the  trumpets,  to  be  liter- 
ally interpreted,  ii,  46-49  ;  pre- 
liminary proclamation  of,  ii,  66- 
74  ;  the  fifth  trumpet,  ii,  75-95  ; 
the  sixth,  ii,  119,  124-148,  242; 
the  seventh,  ii,  258 
Woman,    the    marvellous,  ii,  271- 
341;  not   the   Virgin    Mary,  ii, 
274  ;  not  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
ii,  275  ;  but  the  visible  Church, 
ii,    275-278,    320-325,  369  ;    iii, 
li2;  description  of.  ii,  278-292; 
persecuted    by   the   dragon,    ii, 
373-375,  379-382 ;  flees,  ii,  376; 
is  nourished,  ii,  379 
Woman,    the,   in  scarlet,  iii,  113- 
132;  not  Rome,  iii,  115;  charac^ 
teristics  of,  iii,  113-125 
Wordsworth,     on    genuineness    of 
Rev.,  i,  31,    n  ;    quoted,   on  the 
eagle,  ii,  72,  n 
World,  government  of,  changes,  ii, 
259-262 ;    end    of,    iii,  238-262  ; 
not   the  extinction  of,  iii,  369- 
377 


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